


False

by shadow_oblivion



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Gen, I wanted a fic to torment Law again with Luffy's antics, Imprisonment, Rescue, Stream of Consciousness, a deal with the enemy causing the problem fic, a few battles, at times - Freeform, basically Law with memory loss, leading to amusing problems, via OC Devil Fruit user
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-05-31 01:06:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 62,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6449386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadow_oblivion/pseuds/shadow_oblivion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Suffering from the effects of another Devil Fruit user's power, Trafalgar Law finds that it is difficult for him to trust Straw Hat Luffy and his crew, even after their claim of alliance and friendship with him. Mainly because Law didn't know who they were. Or who he was, for that matter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to post one of my generic, no pairing fics on Ao3, to be updated simultaneously on ffn still. Mainly for those who'd rather have no pairing fics to read on this site.
> 
> And while I sort of think that amnesia is cliché, this fic hopefully going to be a bit different, since the memory loss/jumble isn't due to an injury (which seems to be the case for some stories that I've come across in the past). And as such, it will come up often, because that was the point of this fic to have amnesia as a focus to have the characters deal with. And an OC bad guy to pummel by the end that is causing the amnesia.
> 
> I have this fic outlined to the end, with a slim chance of a shorter, follow-up sequel, and at this point I'd say there are a few chapters left to post when I get around to it. Ten chapters thus far as of now.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything from One Piece. I just enjoy tormenting Law for some reason.

Hindsight was 20/20.

It was a fact that Trafalgar Law should have been well aware of by now, considering the circumstances. He almost felt as if he should get the phrase tattooed on his skin, along with what was there already, when all of this was over with. Driven the idea into his mind so that he would never forget to look ahead. To remember to keep every possible outcome in the forefront of his mind, should something go wrong. Because when all was said and done, Luffy and plans went together about as well as Devil Fruit users and the sea. Law had been a fool to think that sneaking into a highly guarded naval base with Straw Hat and his crew could ever have gone smoothly. Past experience should have pointed to the obvious fact that nothing would ever go according to plan when Luffy was involved.

But what was done was done, and all that was left to do now was to not be caught by the now highly on alert marine base he and the Straw Hat pirates had broken into.

The alarms were blaring, and had been ever since they'd been spotted. The shouts of the marines as they pursued all of them were showing no sign of letting up any time soon. Not even when Law and the Straw Hats had been split up. The force of marines had merely broken off into two sections. Law wasn't sure whether or not he should feel slighted that the smaller group was pursuing him. After all, he had a more dangerous reputation than Straw Hat Luffy.

But now was not the time to dwell on the number of his pursuers. There was nothing else that could be done but to run and try to keep ahead of those that were now pursuing him. Not that he was concerned that any of the small fries could actually capture him, or otherwise do anything that would impede his progress. No, what Law was more concerned about was the reason that he'd come to this godforsaken place in the first place. The Heart Pirate captain hoped that it was worth it in the end, because he wasn't feeling all that great about it as he raced through the marine base toward what he hoped was an exit.

Everything that could go wrong had. It wasn't enough that the initial plan had been all but ignored. Some nonsensical, ludicrous bare handed brute force had taken the place of common sense, completely shattering Law's carefully calculated plans. Plans that would have worked perfectly had Luffy not gotten slack jawed at the explanation, and asleep the latter half. Law was sure that lack of hearing it all was part of the problem, even if the rest of the crew had heard him out. But he wasn't their captain, so they had changed tactics as soon as Luffy had blow all pretenses and gotten straight to the heart of the matter.

The spectacular destruction of the front doors of the base had been the signal that all was not well with Law's plan. The second had been that his temporary allies had no concept of stealth, least of all their captain. After leaving a sizeable hole in the door, the straw hat wearing captain had decided to yell at the top of his lungs, which would have drawn attention had the debris that used to be the front door had not. That loud chaotic mess that was Luffy had led to all of them being immediately sighted by their enemies when they hadn't wanted to draw attention their at all. At least, not until they had been making their way out of the base with what they'd come to seize.

Maps and a certain something that Law had no doubt would be trouble in the future should the marines utilize it. It was imperative that they got their hands on the item in question. The maps were wanted but not a necessity if there wasn't the time to acquire them.

Trafalgar Law was not easily shaken, even if he was beyond exasperated with Straw Hat. Luffy ignoring all that he had said before they'd come to the island. With a heavy sigh at the sight of explosions rocking one section of the building, no doubt the work of Luffy's shipwright, Law had made the attempt to salvage what was left of his initial plan. With the Straw Hats drawing noisy attention to themselves, the Heart Pirate captain had been able to sneak into a few rooms with relative ease. Not that it had helped, because what he was looking for couldn't be found with the all out brawl the Straw Hat pirates' appearance in the marine base had brought.

Law tore around a corner, narrowly avoiding a barrage of bullets of the swifter marines. Law wasn't about to bother wasting his stamina unless it was absolutely vital that he did so in order to make a clean getaway. He hoped that the reputation of the base was as he had heard of in a town. That they lacked discipline, and were so far away from the other bases that no one of great power would ever want to be stuck there.

The fact that Law had seen Luffy sending a group of men flying over the railing and onto a lower floor earlier proved what pushovers the naval officers were. So even though they had lost the element of surprise, they should be able to accomplish what they came to do.

The dark haired pirate absently used his Devil Fruit powers to divert bullets meant for him. Interesting, he hadn't expected them to catch up with him so quickly. The surprised cries rang out as expected, but Law didn't bother to look back and see if he had slowed down his pursuers or not. That wasn't the point. He needed to do the bare minimum to escape this place, and rethink things in an attempt to salvage what little of his plan he had left to work with. Law would have what he came for, one way or another, and if he had to do it solo the next time, he would.

The problem with making plans up on the fly while being pursued by people that likely wanted him dead was that it was hard to predict the unpredictable. And that was what had just appeared in the doorframe of a large steel door. A tall man with a coat perched over his shoulders, and a wild shock of brown hair watched his approach. As Law drew nearer, he could make out that there was a permanent look of distain etched on the marine's face, and it grew more pronounced the closer the dark haired pirate got.

Law took one look at the marine that was blocking his way, and immediately halted in his tracks. He didn't have to have eyes in the back of his head to know that those marines that had been chasing him had left a fair distance between himself and the lone marine standing before the door. The Heart Pirate captain remained tense, ready to draw his nodachi at a moment's notice. He was fairly certain that the man now impeding his progress was either a commander or someone of a higher rank. Mainly due to the fact that the man had no trace of fear in him that Law could discern. He certainly had picked it up from some of the lower ranked marines. Probably from the rumors going around about him. The marine in front of the steel doors appeared to think otherwise about said rumors.

Or perhaps he just didn't care, because he could have done something even nastier to get himself shipped off to such a destitute place.

At that thought, Law allowed himself a small smirk. "I didn't think that such a backwash, out of the way island would have anyone of importance on its shores."

The lone marine didn't smile, but the look of distain seemed to lessen. His voice, however, was full of arrogant scorn for the pirate standing at ease before him. "Someone has to keep everyone in line and doing their jobs. Such as running down damn pirates that think they can take whatever they wish and get away with it."

Law tilted his head as he regarded the man. "Whatever makes you think I came to steal something?" Inwardly Law was already spotting likely places to make his escape, should the situation take a turn for the worse. "If you can't protect whatever I or another might happen to wish to 'take' then you shouldn't have it in the first place."

"All you pirates are the same." That was all the marine growled before he suddenly rushed forward, his hand in a fist as he swung it at Law.

Law activated his Devil Fruit powers and easily evaded the strike. The marine in his place was not so fortunate, but the man was lucky the higher level officer did not punch with all his strength. Law narrowed his eyes as he watched the marine about face. So much for not using his powers. Law could see the marine he'd swapped places with. He'd been mistaken. The marine hadn't punched his subordinate at all. He'd managed to swing at empty air past the other man's head. It didn't prevent the lower lever officer from slumping to the ground, shaking all over from how close he'd come to being struck.

"Vice admiral Fall. The other pirates that entered the base are headed for the port."

Law again made sure he knew where all the potential exits were. He wasn't about to stick around and duke it out with a vice admiral. He wasn't really a hand to hand fighter anyway. The Heart Pirate captain was fairly sure that Luffy would get a kick out of fighting someone one on one in close quarters though.

"Then what are you lot standing around here for? Take half of the unit and prevent them from leaving. Get on our ships and send out canon fire if you must to stop them from escaping." The vice admiral, Fall, called back. His piercing gaze settled on the Heart Pirate. "I'll take care of this one."

Law couldn't help but smile back in equal arrogance. "I think not." Law swapped places with a confused officer from a higher up level of the base, and was almost at the door when Fall was suddenly there, blocking his way again. With a fist. Law hastily backed out of range, before he was forced to bring up his sheathed blade to deflect the next strike.

Fall went back into a ready stance, eyes narrowed as he looked for an opening. "Devil Fruit user, huh? Bet you've met many in the New World." The vice admiral backed Law into a corner, and after giving the room the Heart Pirate had created a dismissive glance, his lip curved into the faintest hint of a smile. "I'm going to make you turn yourself in."

"It is in my best interest to remain out of marine and government custody." Law commented. "I highly doubt you or any other officer has that level of persuasion to get a wanted man to turn himself in willingly." It was highly inconvenient that he had lost his status as a warlord of the sea.

"I never said you would do it all on your own. But you will, since you won't remember that you're a wanted man. For a short time, anyway, when I'm through with you. You're not going anywhere."

Law felt that sounded rather ominous. Not to mention that the vice admiral remained as calm as he had been when the Heart Pirate captain had first set eyes on him. "I'll pass on that offer." Without missing a beat, Law's powers flared and the dark haired pirate tore the scaffolding he and Fall stood on, and sent it crashing to the ground to cause confusion amongst the officers on the lower floor. The Heart Pirate captain leapt nimbly from piece to piece of falling debris, confident that with the destruction he would make a clean getaway.

"I told you that you weren't going anywhere."

A hand appeared to come out of nowhere, headed straight for him. Before Law could react amongst the falling pieces of scaffolding that substituted a floor of the base, the hand wrapped around his throat. Law grunted as he was pinned against the nearest wall, though he was confused that instead of being sucker punched, the vice admiral merely placed his free hand on his head. What was the man going to do now? Crush his head in? Right before Law could use his powers to get out of the vice admiral's grasp, the vice admiral snapped two words, and everything became a confused, jumbled mess after that.

"Nix Memoria."

The words seemed to work their way straight into his mind. An insidious presence nestled there, nudging thoughts here and there. The Heart Pirate continued to struggle against the grasp the vice admiral had on him, but he was now perplexed. Things weren't making as much sense to him any more, the longer that strange presence in his mind remained. Whispers accompanied the presence, which increased his confusion, even though the odd sensation of his own thoughts drifting away from him remained. The voice was overlaying his common sense, and he started to wonder why he was resisting in the first place. Why wouldn't he just go along with the people around him? It seemed like an obvious thing to do...

But to go along with someone that was choking him seemed...

Seemed...

The willingness to obey the suggestion of the voice in his mind fled him as fury arced through him. The voice that was still in his head. It was as if it was trying to twist his reasoning. Trying to get him to look past something obvious. Look past what made immediate sense.

For example, the dark haired man didn't think it made much sense that he would go anywhere willingly with someone that was currently attacking him. Or with anyone associated with that person. He was being strangled, from the feel of the hand around his throat. He didn't have a clue or reason as to why this man was currently strangling him anyway. It wasn't like he had done anything wrong. At least, he didn't think that he had. All he knew was that the man seemed to have ill will toward him. It was reason enough to resume thrashing to get away, no matter what that insidious voice inside his head was whispering to him otherwise. He wasn't about to listen to it. It all seemed so wrong somehow, now that he thought about it.

The dark haired man clutched desperately to the wrongness of the situation, not wanting that willingness to drift back into his mind. He was concerned that he would not be able to fight back against it a second time.

"Vice admiral!"

He didn't know why the other man let him go, but figured the person shouting frantically was the reason. It didn't matter, as it allowed him to get free of that hand. The men, the marines, the dark haired man's mind reminded him, were bad news, and he knew he shouldn't be near them. Or allow them to catch him. There was a reason for that, but it eluded him for the moment. Funny that something like that had popped into his mind. At the very least that voice in his head had stopped. He heard the man that had been crushing his windpipe say something, but didn't bother to look back, as he felt that any slip up from then on would be dangerous.

"Trafalgar Law! You won't be able to get far as you are now."

The dark haired man kept running. He wanted to put as much distance between himself and the marines as he could, even as the reason why continued to evade him.

-x-

"Vice admiral Fall! Trafalgar Law is getting away!"

The vice admiral's expression was back to his usual one. Disdain, as if he had seen something unpleasant that wouldn't leave his sight. Fall gave a dismissive flick of his eyes the way Law had run, before he shook his head, disgruntled as he addressed his men. "You lot interrupted me before I could finish temporarily modifying his memory."

There was an uneasy murmur through the ranks that were gathered, before one of them ventured to speak.

"Sorry, sir. Should we give chase, sir?"

Fall glanced at the marine that had spoken, before he gave one firm nod. "Of course. Is the rest of the unit out to stop the other pirates?"

The marine saluted. "Yes sir, but there's a problem." The man quailed under the higher ranking officer's gaze, but managed to stutter the rest of his report. "Th...The pirate ship made a getaway, but not before all the pirates were on board. Some are still on the island. Sir."

"Have the men outside detain them then. Do not even let them make an attempt to steal a ship from our fleet."

The man that had been addressed watched the vice admiral walk away. "Sir? What of Trafalgar Law?"

"I will deal with him. He shouldn't be much of a problem when I am done with him. Send out a few men after him. I'll be right behind them."

"And if he gets away?" The marine dared to ask again.

Fall glanced over his shoulder briefly. "He won't. And even if he does, I have ways to get him to come back with my Devil Fruit already active." The vice admiral waved a hand. "Dismissed."

"Sir!"

-x-

He didn't know how long he ran through the dense undergrowth of the forest surrounding the naval base. He didn't even care that the marines were doggedly pursing him, as he was better able to remain upright as he made a mad dash through and around vegetation of all kinds. But he couldn't run forever, and he felt so exhausted for some reason. The thin blue film of some bizarre looking room followed him wherever he went, and the dark haired man wondered what it was. It was as if it were draining him somehow. Had the man in the base done it to him?

The dark haired man stumbled to a halt, and that gave the more fleet of foot marines time to catch up and attack. He avoided them, wary, as he wasn't sure if he remembered that he knew how to fight or not. Luckily his body seemed to remember that self preservation was a must, and he found himself reacting instinctively. He drew the nodachi and without hesitation, sliced through the three marines charging toward him with a few deft swings.

It didn't seem to bother him when pieces of bodies hit the ground, accompanied by yelps of surprise. He glanced down at the blade in his hand. It looked sharp, so why hadn't it cut them and killed them? He lingered for a moment, intrigued by the sight, before he heard the rest of his pursuers gain ground. Sheathing the nodachi, he automatically rested it over one shoulder and kept in motion. He gripped the sheathe tightly. That answered one question. It was obvious that he knew how to handle himself in a fight, even if he couldn't remember it. The motion of swinging the blade was almost reassuring in a way. He had sensed some kind of confusion, as if from the blade itself, but he put that from his mind. He was just imagining things, because of that marine that had attacked him earlier.

Panting heavily, the dark haired man knew he was at his limit. Why he knew it, he caulked to it being like his instinctive knowledge of how to fight. With a quick glance, he hid himself in a densely clustered group of trees to his left. He slumped exhaustedly to the ground, and was relieved that the leaves kept him out of sight of his determined pursuers the marines.

"Damn that Trafalgar Law."

"Which way did he go?"

"All of you, fan out. He has to be within this room. Work from the outside in."

"Damn pirate."

The dark haired man let out an aggravated sigh as he heard footsteps recede. He was safe, for now, but he wasn't sure for how long. Pirate...that seemed to resonate with him. Pirates were the enemies of the marines, so that must make him one, since they were after him as well. That was one less mystery he had to deal with.

The pirate frowned at the other, more immediate problem. The damn thin room around him was going to give his position away if it didn't go out of sight. Now that he was out of danger, he focused on something that had been nagging him at the back of his mind. And had been since he had gotten out of the building.

Trafalgar Law.

That was what those marines had been calling out as he led them around on a merry chase through the faintly drizzle filled island's forest.

He clutched the nodachi that he hadn't once let go of as a sense of unease passed over him again. Something was very wrong. There were names in his head that seemed vaguely familiar, in addition to the information about the men chasing him, and the knowledge that he could fight. But he couldn't put faces to the names. He was only able to associate them with emotions. The name Doflamingo made him feel on edge, while the name Luffy caused him to become exasperated. As if the person in question annoyed him on a daily base. Maybe they did, but he couldn't remember.

Couldn't remember...

He gripped the sheathed blade so tightly it almost hurt. The realization of being unable to remember made something immediately become more concerning than the marines. It was a point that he was trying to deny, but it was driven home as an overly cheerful and grinning young man wearing a straw hat invaded his personal space.

The automatic response that had allowed him to fight made him react defensively this time around, and the nodachi was at the other's throat in an instant. That it didn't faze the straw hat wearing fool irked the dark haired pirate for some unknown reason. But he didn't move from his defensive posture, nor did he remove the tip of the blade from where it was rested against the throat of the one who had disturbed him.

"Where were you? Everyone else thought you got captured!" The straw hat bearer all but ignored the blade to his throat as he called over his shoulder and waved to someone unseen. "See Nami? I told you he'd get away just fine!"

The pirate tensed as a few other people came into the small clearing, and brought his blade tip away from the straw hat's throat and across and in front of his own body. He didn't know what these people's intentions were but he wasn't going to let his guard down lest they be connected the marines somehow. He immediately dismissed the idea as soon as it had come. Something told him they weren't allies to the marines, but it didn't hurt to be cautious. His gaze swept over them. An orange haired woman, a bizarre animal that resembled a raccoon or deer, a long haired woman who appeared to be amused with him, and a green haired swordsman that had one of his blades drawn. He would keep an eye on that one. He seemed to be more dangerous than the others. That was the idea, anyway, until the straw hat wearing one decided to get close to him again. The dark haired pirate quickly raised his blade to keep the other away. He wasn't sure what to make of the confused frown he received for the action.

"What's wrong, Law?" The orange haired woman ventured. She seemed taken aback at something.

He blinked as he realized what she'd just called him. Law. Was that his name? Was that why the marines had been yelling it? They had only been after him, not someone else as he had initially thought. A name was a good start. His name.

Law looked at each person that was in the clearing with him, but apart from them seeming vaguely familiar, he couldn't put the names to them with the ones that were floating around in his head. After he'd given himself time to study the others, he finally spoke. "Do I...know you people?"

The complete look of astonishment was answer enough, but Law hadn't been expecting it. Nor had he been fully prepared to have the younger man in the straw hat seize him by the front of his shirt, clearly upset.

"What the hell are you talking about? Of course you do! Don't joke around like that! It's not funny!"

Law took the manhandling better than he had anticipated, mainly because he hadn't sensed any ill will from the younger man. Annoyance, yes, but nothing like the anger and resentment that Law had gotten from that marine that had been choking him not so long ago.

The other people around the Straw Hat were all speaking at once, their concerns and expressions ranging from bemused to exasperated to concerned.

"Maybe one of the marines hit his head." This from the long haired woman.

"If he's hurt he shouldn't be running around." The higher voice of the smaller animal with antlers piped up.

Law stared at the creature. Odd. He hadn't expected an animal to be able to talk. That it wasn't surprising must have meant that somewhere in the back of his mind, he'd come across something like it before. Though where, he couldn't begin to guess.

"Are you mad because I ate the food Sanji was going to give you?"

Law didn't see why he would get mad over that, and felt some sense of satisfaction at the sight of the orange haired woman slapping the young man wearing the straw hat upside the head.

"Idiot! Since when would he make up something like that? He seems to like to tease people, but not like this."

Tease? Did he?

The green haired swordsman had since sheathed his blade and crossed his arms as he looked around. "Aren't the marines going to find us like this?" He indicated the thin blue room around them, then turned his head toward Law. "Shouldn't you get rid of it?"

"You shouldn't waste your energy, in case the marines spot us." Added the black haired woman.

Law looked up warily at the blue encasing. "I did that?"

The straw hat wearing individual had started to laugh. "What a weirdo. That's you devil fruit power, isn't it?" He grinned, as if he'd just thought of something. "Hey, can you swap Nami and Zoro? That'd be funny."

Devil Fruit power? Swap? Law didn't know what the other was talking about, even if it did seem somehow familiar.

"Luffy! Do you really want him to do something like that when he clearly isn't in a right state of mind? What if he couldn't switch us back?"

The straw hat wearing young man, Luffy, grinned. "It'd be fine."

"No, it wouldn't." The orange haired woman snapped, before she swung around to Law. "Anyway, make it go away, before the marines find us!" She indicated the blue film all around them.

"How?" Because Law sure as hell couldn't figure it out right now. He was more concerned that his memory was jumbled, and using some mysterious power wasn't what concerned him right now.

"Try!"

Law frowned, an underlying sense of irritation at being ordered around. He didn't like it, but again, he couldn't explain why. It just was. Law reached for something that seemed to be linked to what was being indicated in the sky. The Devil Fruit. But it was like there was a void and the power was just out of reach. Law shook his head, feeling further exhausted. "I can't."

"The marines are headed this way." The green haired swordsman announced quietly.

The small animal sniffed the air. "There are a lot more of them than before."

"If he can't get that room to go away, you're going to have to do it for him." The orange haired woman, Nami, said sternly. "I'm not getting caught by those marines because he can't remember how to do something that seems to be automatic for Devil Fruit users."

"The powers only disengage when the user is unconscious. Or dead. Are you suggesting we do that to him?" The other woman asked in a serious tone.

Luffy let go of Law, clearly appalled by the suggestion. "He's our friend! Don't say stuff like that."

Friend? Law was dubious about the declaration, and the pieces of memory floating just out of reach seemed to agree with that sentiment. He then realized what had been said, and it set him on edge.

"We don't want to give the marines that easy of a time finding us." Nami shot back. "You'll be doing him a favor!"

Law kept his nodachi drawn as he narrowed his eyes, suspicious now. He didn't like the way this conversation was headed. Like hell he was going to let them knock him out. He didn't even see how they could if he didn't let them get within range.

Luffy seemed to be giving Nami's words some thought, because he eventually brightened again. "Oh, so it would be helping him? All right! I'll do it then."

Just like that? Who the hell agreed to something like that so quickly? Law tensed defensively. There was clearly something wrong with these people with how causally some of them were talking about knocking him out. Like it wasn't that big of an issue. Or the fact that he wasn't going to allow it.

"Luffy, don't hit him too hard." The antlered animal said worriedly. "We don't know if he already has a concussion or not."

"You can check on him when we're out of danger, Chopper." Nami reassured the small animal.

The black haired woman crossed her arms. "Dos fleurs."

Law let out a gasp when two arms sprouted from his sides to grab his arms, and that alone was distraction enough from lashing out. Because _holy shit_ there were disembodied arms coming out of his body. Where the hell did those come from? Law didn't see Luffy's fist aimed right for him, but he certainly felt it when it connected. At least those creepy extra arms vanished by the time he hit the ground from the force of the strike, the nodachi slipping from his limp grasp.

"We need to get out of here." Nami's voice was clear, even if she didn't sound happy about something.

"Yeah, maybe he'll not lie about not knowing us." Luffy seemed adamant that a punch induced sleep was a cure all.

As he drifted toward an unconscious state, Law felt that he hadn't lied in the least bit. He'd spoken truthfully, at least as far as his memory was concerned at this point in time. He didn't know who any of them were. Nor did he really know himself, for that matter, apart from the basic instincts and knowledge, and the fact that his name was apparently Law.


	2. Chapter 2

Who was he?

That was the question, wasn't it? After all, he couldn't remember. He thought that he had, but perhaps not. He was sure that it was there somewhere in his mind though, but the dark haired man couldn't place it. But the matter of who he was exactly came to a crashing halt as soon as he slit his eyes open. It became apparent that the situation he now found himself in immediately upon awakening required his full attention. The worry of being unable to recall his own name was forgotten as a sense of dread washed over him.

Hell.

There was no other word for it.

He had woken up in hell.

The harbinger of death had come for him, to take him further into the bottomless depths, never to return. That had to be it. There was no other reason for why he was greeted by that very ominous sight, which made him promptly close his eyes, as if he could will it away. Although what he had just seen did a great deal to explain why he felt so drained and unable to move. That odd loss of control led him to believe that he was dead. It seemed logical. It was the only rational explanation for this vision currently being visited upon him.

The dark haired man chanced a peek at the sight to make sure that he had really seen things correctly. The vision was still there, so yes, he had seen it. To be completely honest, he'd have thought that the grim reaper or whoever it was that had come to collect him would be more intimidating. A harbinger of death with an afro seemed strange, even if the rest of the being was obviously a skeleton. Maybe it was a trick to get him to lower his guard.

In the haze that was his mind, the dark haired man thought that death was supposed to come quickly. Not agonizingly slow like this, nor as torturous as it was soon to become. Maybe he'd done something terrible that merited this cruel and unusual departure to the gates of hell. It certainly seemed that way when the dark haired man realized what the skeleton was doing.

It was singing.

Singing and playing an accompaniment on an instrument. It was an affront to make such a racket around someone who'd been unconscious until very recently, and it was akin to a never ending assault upon the terrible headache he now had coming to him. That alone made the dark haired man reconsider being dead.

Perhaps this noise was to be what ended him. He prayed for a fast death if that was the case. Anything to stop this torture which apparently passed as pleasant music. The skeleton had even spoken briefly before it had launched into another song. It made him want to curl in on himself, but he was too exhausted and barely able to move as it was. No, he could only lay there and wait for deliverance.

He thought he might beg and plead to make it stop, to move things along, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. There was no way he was going to stoop so low as to beg this creature before him to end things. He had never begged for anything from anyone, no matter how dire the circumstances. How he knew this, he couldn't recall, but it felt right to him. After what seemed like ages, the music finally and mercifully came to an end. The only downside was that the skeleton moved closer to where he lay, and there was nothing he could do about it.

This was it.

He was going to be whisked away to hell, or wherever it was that he would go when dead. Perhaps he was to be endlessly tormented with insidious sound that only just passed for music. The dark haired man lay inert. There was no point in resisting. It would be a pathetic display if he even had the energy to sit up. What could he possibly do to stop death from coming for him? Doing something now to delay things seemed like it would likely only encourage the skeleton to further taunt him.

To taunt him…

He recalled something then. It was a brief passing of a memory that he couldn't quite hold on to. But it was enough for the general idea. He knew, remembered, that he did not like to be taunted. The context to support this feeling was gone as soon as the idea had crossed his mind. It was as if the information was dangling itself just out of his reach. When the dark haired man tried to get to it, he managed to recall what had happened to him, and just how things had turned out this way.

He'd been attacked by the marines, and the only reason he could think of at the time was that it was because he was a pirate. Marines chased pirates. It made sense. He had then hidden himself out of sight, but _those_ people had found him. The ones that seemed to know him. The dark haired pirate desperately grasped at that piece of information like a lifeline. He'd remembered what one of them had said. They'd told him a piece of information about himself.

His name.

His name was Law. That was right. He recalled that now. He'd do well to keep that in mind, in case he was knocked unconscious again. Trying to remember your own name certainly made a situation that much more miserable. Law also recalled that one of those people that had found him had unceremoniously knocked him out, after he claimed to not know any of them. Which was true enough. It wasn't like he could pick out any past memories of them at the moment. Law was far more concerned that he knew little to nothing about himself. Being driven into unconsciousness via a punch was certainly a setback.

Law scowled faintly. He highly doubted that he would have anything to do with such contradictory people in the first place, but perhaps it would be useful to stick around and learn more. He needed more knowledge. Just his name wasn't enough. Who was he, exactly? Where had he come from? Why were the marines after him? Who were the people he'd run into? Why had they knocked him out instead of continuing the conversation?

The dark haired pirate supposed he knew the answer to the last one. It was because he'd been ready to attack in order to defend himself.

"Excuse me?"

Law scrambled backward on what he had been lying on. A bed, he dimly realized, as he curled against the wall defensively. He sought out the nodachi that he had had, but could not see it in immediate sight. It would figure that they would want to disarm him, in case he tried to lash out at them. Although he didn't like that they had made the decision for him. They all were armed. Law's back rested heavily against the wall. He could now see that he was in a room of some kind, stocked with what looked like medical supplies, but apart from that, it was unfamiliar.

And all the while the damn skeleton was getting ever closer to him.

Law wanted to crawl through the wall behind him to get away, but felt that he needed to face death with more dignity. Damn that straw hat wearing fool. Luffy. That was that one's name. That idiot had put him at death's door with that punch of his. Luffy must have struck him harder than he'd meant to. A meeting with death itself proved that. But Law wasn't dead. He was still breathing, after all. Maybe it was just a mistake.

The skeleton rambled on as if unaware of how frazzled Law was. "I said that that last song was entitled 'remember me in the stormy weather'."

Law's gaze swept the entire room, but the only escape route was past the skeleton, and he felt that he wasn't in the best of shape to be making a run for it. He'd never make it out the door.

The skeleton came closer to the edge of the bed to look at him.

This was it. He was about to die.

Law watched the skeleton lean over slightly, and vaguely wondered what manner of death would be chosen for him. He hoped it would be quick, whatever it was. Law supposed that the skeleton was getting a good look at him. But the skeleton had no eyes, so he couldn't be sure that it wasn't looking at someone or something else.

But that was unlikely.

Just as Law braced himself for pain, the skeleton spoke in a curious manner. "Are you all right? You don't appear too well."

Law's tension left him at the absurdity of it all. The dark haired pirate dared to give the other being in the room with him a disgruntled look. Death could at least have the decency to take him away without inquiring after his well-being. Law was about to be carried off to hell. How was he supposed to feel about that?

The skeleton was fiddling with its instrument. "Maybe another song will help…"

Law finally found his voice, as irrational fear of the unknown was overtaken by profound annoyance. "No. No more songs." It was very bizarre to see a crestfallen skeleton. What was going on? When was all of the fire and brimstone and unending agony going to begin? Law caught the skeleton about to start playing, and the dark haired pirate forgot his fatigue, his tone clipped. "If you are going to drag me to hell, be quick about it. Do not make me suffer beforehand like this."

There was a long, awkward silence after that, and the skeleton appeared to be perplexed. Then, it nodded, as if confirming something. "Ah. I didn't believe it, but I guess everyone was right. You really don't remember."

Law frowned at that. "Remember what, exactly?" That skeletons had no business of walking around unless they were harbingers of death come to claim damned souls?

The skeleton with an afro did not respond. Instead, it had already made its way to the door and opened it. "He doesn't recall me either, but…" There was a pause, and Law could have sworn that they damn thing was smiling. "I do believe that he thinks that I am some messenger of death come to take him away. That sends a chill done my spine. Even though I have no nerves. Yohohoho!"

Law was seriously considering his sanity and reevaluating the potential that he was dead and in some afterlife already. This was just too weird to happen in reality. Most unfortunately, Law's day was to get worse as he was left without a trace of doubt that he was alive and breathing. Straw Hat Luffy made his appearance.

"What are you talking about, Brook?" Luffy, the one that had knocked him out, had just responded to the skeleton. "Why would he think you'd do something like that?"

Wait. The skeleton had a name? So help him, the skeleton and straw hat were in league with one another. That didn't bode well. Had Luffy made some bargain with the devil to get an unholy creature in the form of a skeleton?

Luffy bounded into the room, and caught sight of Law looking as if he wanted nothing more than to claw his way through the wall. Luffy laughed. "What are you doing?"

Brook gave the impression of being thoughtful as he looked between Luffy and Law. "Perhaps it is because he does not remember that I too have a Devil Fruit power that he isn't entirely sure what to make of me. He doesn't know the circumstances that led me to be in this state."

Law saw the skeleton's attention go back to him, and pressed his back against the wall heavily in response, as if he could will himself to phase through it.

Brook turned back to Luffy. "It follows that it would make no sense to him that a skeleton would be moving on its own. It is therefore plausible that someone who was ignorant would believe me to be some kind of demon or grim reaper." The afro sporting skeleton shrugged. "I did have some people think that they summoned me on a certain island."

"Awesome." Luffy immediately turned his full attention to Brook. "Did they really summon you?"

Brook laughed in return. "They did not. It was where I was sent by that Warlord, Bartholomew Kuma, two years ago. The timing was coincidental."

"I see..."

Law could tell that, even without the knowledge of what was being discussed, that Luffy didn't 'see', at all. The straw hat wearing young man was too absorbed in thinking about Brook being involved in a summoning to track the skeleton's words. Funny that Law even had an idea as to what summoning would involve, but nothing useful about himself. And for all Law knew, Luffy could have summoned Brook himself. But the way that the younger man was so amazed at the idea, it seemed unlikely that Luffy had done anything of the sort. Law noticed the skeleton's attention was suddenly back on him and tensed defensively in return.

"We should get Chopper, now that he's awake." Brook commented. "Perhaps he'll know what is the matter."

"Okay!"

Law had been about to gripe about Luffy knocking him out with a punch, but the young man had already left the room. More importantly, however, was the fact that Brook had started to play his music again. The grating noise spurred Law into action. He no longer had thoughts of escape. Law forced his exhausted body into movement. For some reason, in his mind, Brook was doing something to try and confuse him, in order to distract him. Law didn't know who this Chopper was. When he was on his feet, Law had a moment of clarity and realized with a jolt that he had heard the name before. Chopper was that animal that he'd seen before falling unconscious.

Another question drifted into his mind as he focused on the skeleton. Why would they want to bring him here? Wherever here was. It wasn't like anything any one of these people said was going to help. Unless it was something that would be useful. Like information about who he was. Law didn't like that there was a void when it came to what he knew about himself, apart from his name.

"Yohohhoo! And then there was another storm~"

Law's hand closed over the hilt of his nodachi, but he didn't know where it had come from. It was just there. It didn't matter right this instant anyway. He knew only one thing, and it was going through his head like a mantra. An obsession.

He didn't question why the thought had overtaken the more important one of finding out more about himself as he lunged at Brook and swung the blade.

The music needed to stop, and Law felt that he had to be the one to do it.

-x-

By the time Luffy returned with Chopper, it was obvious that there was trouble brewing. It was hard to miss the fact that Law was advancing on Brook with his nodachi, and wore a crazed look to match his actions. Luffy didn't think twice about throwing himself between his two friends. "Hey! Knock it off!"

Brook hesitated, but Law did not. The dark haired pirate turned his attentions to Luffy and swung his blade at him instead. There was no room made by a Devil Fruit power to make the slash mostly harmless. Luckily for Luffy, Zoro had followed his captain to see what had woken him up from his nap.

Steel rang upon steel, and the green haired swordsman was suddenly there between Law and Luffy, and blocking Law's attack. Zoro strained against the nodachi's blade with two of his katana, and spoke to Luffy without taking his eyes off Law. "What are you doing Luffy? He doesn't remember who you are."

Before Luffy could respond, Law pressed his attack, and Zoro allowed it, drawing the dark haired pirate out of the room. Apparently it was what Law had wanted, because as soon as they were out on the open deck, he broke away from Zoro and warily circled him to one side of the ship's deck. It was clear from the dark haired man's expression that he was displeased to find that he was out on the open sea. Even if the island he could make out was only a few ship lengths away.

Zoro kept the dark haired pirate covered with his two drawn katana, even as Law sheathed his own blade and appeared to be thinking about something. It became clear what, when not a second later, the dark haired pirate suddenly leapt over the side of the ship.

"Ahh! What did he do that for? " Luffy exclaimed, as he rushed over to the railing. "He'll drown!"

-x-

As soon as he hit the water and realized that the best he could do was flail, Law wondered if perhaps he should have just remained on the ship. Wait until a more opportune moment to make his escape. The dark haired pirate struggled a moment longer before being swept underwater. He attempted to hold his breath, but wasn't able to for long. The shock of being unable to swim and feeling powerless had already made him gulp down some of the salty water. But the predicament Law found himself in made him question himself as he sunk further down.

Why couldn't he swim?

Law couldn't think of a good reason why, but he felt even further drained than he had before. He could hold his breath no longer. Law flailed again in any case as the water forced its way into his mouth, chasing away what little air had been left. Law's thoughts were scattered even further as the panic of the air loss went to the forefront of his mind. He needed air. He needed to breathe. He didn't want to die like this. Something was telling him that he shouldn't go down this way.

Which led him to the question of why had he jumped off the ship the first place. Why had he attacked those people on the ship? The ones who had answers to his questions.

Why?

It was as if there had been a small voice in his head telling him that it was all right to attack people who claimed to know him. But that didn't make any sense. Nor did the idea that he was supposed to go back to that marine base he had just escaped from. Why would he want to go back there when it was obvious that the marines had nothing but bad intentions should he fall into their clutches?

Law's struggles grew weaker, until he merely went limp and was battered helplessly in the ocean currents. It was useless, as far as he was concerned, to even begin to try and make an attempt to swim again. Or force himself toward the surface in a spurt of flailing. His body wasn't listening to him. It was as if the sea itself were draining him of his strength. But that was foolish. Whoever heard of such a thing? He probably just didn't know how to swim for some stupid reason. Which led to Law's next thought.

Was he going to drown?

Law twitched uselessly, the panic increasing at the helplessness of the situation, before he became aware of the sensation of something going around his middle and hanging on. Was it an arm? Had someone gone into the water after him? The next thing Law knew, he was out of the water, but wasn't taking in any air. Something the person that had helped him out appeared to notice instantly.

"Breathe, damn you."

There was a harsh slap between his shoulder blades, but Law couldn't rid himself of the water. What was more, the person continued to slap his back, scolding him as they did so. Law was forced to take the strikes, as he couldn't fight back. Not that he would have, because he very much liked the idea of expelling water from his lungs and being able to breathe properly again.

"What the hell were you thinking, jumping into the sea? Don't you remember? You Devil Fruit users are useless in the water. You aren't able to swim and sink like a damn anchor. Remember that much at least."

Law choked as the hand struck him sharply across the back again, but it had the desired effect this time. It helped him to spew out a good amount of salty sea water he'd taken in. The fresh air was a welcome relief, as it allowed him to push away the last vestiges of panic. He wasn't going to drown. That much he was sure of. Law doubted his rescuer was going to dump him back into the sea. It was then that Law realized he didn't recognize the voice that had spoken. Not that he would have remembered who the person was anyway.

The voice spoke again from somewhere overhead. "Hold still, we're going back to the ship."

It wasn't like Law really had the means to resist in any case. He was still submerged partially in the water, and it wasn't doing anything to make him feel better. Law held still, limp over the other person's shoulder, whom he could now see had blond hair. Law went back to focusing on coughing up water as he and his rescuer were brought back on board the ship.

As soon as he was lowered to the deck of the ship, Law felt well enough to put as much distance between himself and the people in immediate view. If he skittered across the deck like a fool, he didn't care. He needed his back to something solid, like the mast, so that he could keep an eye on them all for anything that might seem the least bit threatening. Law settled for a glare, a small part of him blaming these people for him nearly drowning. Even if it had been his fault to begin with, it didn't change the fact that the green haired swordsman had crossed blades with him with intent to harm should he have managed injure Luffy. Law wasn't exactly sure why that would have been a problem, but figured that he would find out soon enough.

"Luffy, wait!"

Law ignored the feminine protest as he focused on getting air back into his lungs with sharp, gasping breaths. He wouldn't take air for granted now. But right this moment, he needed to be able to think clearly with what was left of his thoughts and the pieces of memory of the people around him.

"Hey! Chopper wants to see if you're hurt!"

Law coughed into a hand as he cleared away the last vestige of the water that he'd ingested. Feeling infinitely better now that he was not in any danger of drowning, the dark haired pirate lifted his head to lock gazes with the straw hat wearing young man. Who was much too close for comfort. And that was all it took for an irrational thought to take root in Law's mind, and stay put there.

Luffy was a threat.

A threat to him.

A threat that needed to be dealt with.

A threat that needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later, before something terrible happened.

Law wasn't sure why a hazy memory like that was in his mind, but the longer it was there, the more sense it seemed to make. After all, Luffy did have a skeleton with him. He needed to stop Luffy in order to keep the skeleton from whisking him off anywhere unpleasant. The thought nestled in his head, and swirled there until he could think of nothing else. And then another realization came to mind that solidified Luffy as a threat to him. Law had no weapon.

He was helpless without a weapon.

Defenseless.

He needed to attack.

Law needed to eliminate the threat. That was what he was supposed to do. Eliminate the threat that was Straw Hat Luffy. Someone had told him to do so, in return for something. Law vaguely recalled the conversation, though the memory was jumbled, as if one too many scenes were playing out, overlapping one another. It made it hard to distinguish what was and what wasn't fact, but he had the gist of it. That was enough reason to act.

He couldn't let these people corner him. Law had no intention of allowing someone to prod at him for any potential injuries in any case. With a twitch of his hand, Law suddenly had the nodachi in his grasp, and without thinking further on the matter, he remembered promising something, to someone, and he figured it was to the hazy memory of the person he recalled talking to. But where and when had he...?

"Hey! What's the matter? Are you hungry?"

Luffy moved in closer, and the thought broke. It seemed like Law had been going somewhere with the idea, but now the threat was heading directly for him, and he dismissed it. It was unimportant right now compared to this. With no further thought on the matter, Law swung the blade at Luffy, and there was no hesitation at all in the motion. No second guessing at the thought of causing harm to a person that wanted to help him.

Help him...

Law's blade suddenly went wide, but Luffy leaned back and out of the way in any case, narrowly missing the arc of the blade. "Huh? I thought Sanji had the sword with him."

Law would have continued his assault despite having mixed feelings about attacking someone that seemed to want to help him, as Luffy was also supposed to be a threat to him. The black haired woman he'd seen before he'd been initially knocked out prevented him from doing anything further, however. Even if Law desperately wanted to.

"Seis fluers."

Law let out a hiss of exasperation as six arms came out of his body from nowhere to restrain him. This time around, while still bizarre, it did not put him off as much as the first time it had happened. Law growled something under his breath as Zoro moved forward to pry his hand way from the nodachi, before the dark haired pirate realized what he was doing.

What had just happened?

What was wrong with him? Hadn't he just been thinking that he wanted these people to tell him more about who he was? Why the in the hell had Law believed that attacking straw hat was a good idea, when Luffy seemed to be the leader of the rest of them? When Luffy seemed to want to genuinely help him? Even if the helpfulness grated on Law's nerves for some reason, there was no excuse for lashing out as he had.

Law chanced a glance up as he attempted to calm himself down. To think clearly. To try and show that he wasn't going to press on with an attack. For now, anyway, until someone gave him reason to. Law was thinking more rationally now that he had been stopped. The negative, destructive thoughts toward straw hat and the others seemed to fade, leaving Law confused and unhappy. What had come over him since he'd awoken? It was like he was a different person then when he'd first come upon the others. Or rather, they'd happened upon him.

The question on his mind repeated itself. What was wrong with him?

His mind troubled, Law's misgivings about the situation in general grew as he caught sight of the orange haired woman from before placing a hand to her head and sighing as she spoke, now that the danger had passed.

"This is going to be a problem."

It was indeed just that. A problem. And one that Law was uncertain how to tackle. It was almost as if there was something broken within his mind, in addition to those forgotten or otherwise jumbled pieces of memories. But dwelling on the problem right now would do him no good. The dark haired pirate needed answers, and he needed them now, regardless of what had just occurred.

Law lifted his head and ignored the arms that remained to restrain him. He kept himself focused on what he was going to address the others with. A question. Law silently looked around at the gathering of people on the ship's deck, before he voiced his most urgent concern. "You told me my name, but...who am I?" Then, in a firmer voice, Law added. "And who am I to you people?" Law tried not to come off as desperate, but it must have shown, because the demeanor of the crew changed in an instant. They were no longer wary and on guard, but in various stages of pity and confusion and understanding.

All except for the one with the straw hat.

Luffy's response was immediate, and the statement was made with such conviction and certainty that it was as if Law hadn't just attacked him moments before. It appeared to Law that in that moment, no matter what happened from then on, Luffy meant what he said, and nothing would change his mind.

"You're our friend." Luffy made a face, like he couldn't believe how stupid Law was being. "Why do you even have to ask?"

A friend...

Law wasn't sure whether he should be exasperated or grateful about that claim, so he decided to be a little bit of both. Luffy still appeared to be upset that Law didn't recall him or the others that stood around him. But at the very least, Law assumed that the claim meant that he wasn't going to be sucker punched into unconsciousness any time soon.

Not being punched again was something that Law could and would consent to being grateful for.


	3. Chapter 3

It was as he suspected all along.

Law really should have known better. He could tell, from just a mere glance, that there was just something not right about Luffy and the others.

As Law stood uncertainly in another cabin of the ship, he thought back on what had led to him standing there like a fool. Because now that he was here in this cabin, the dark haired pirate almost, _almost_ wished that he had been knocked out again with a punch. If only so he wouldn't have been forced to endure what he had considered to be rather demeaning. Law had experienced a vague sense of irritation throughout the entire exchange, after he had lashed out at Luffy and had been subsequently stopped by those extra limbs.

Luffy and the small group of people with him had begun to bicker about Law. As if the dark haired man wasn't there. If that wasn't humiliating enough, then them trying to make decisions for him was. It had only taken Law a few moments of watching this that he was able to form an initial opinion on these people.

Law leaned his back against the nearest wall in what he presumed was the infirmary. As he kept a lookout for Chopper, Law went over his assessment of Luffy and the others thus far.

They were unorthodox.

_"If he doesn't have his weapon, he will be less inclined to attack. But I could be mistaken. We'll probably still want to keep an eye on him."_

They were strange.

_"But what if he remembers how to use his Devil Fruit powers? Won't that mean trouble for us?"_

They were contradictory.

_"Nami, give him his sword back. It'll be fine. He won't hurt us."_

They were unbalanced.

_"Are you crazy? He almost cut you with that blade! What if you hadn't dodged it?"_

Law wondered why they didn't just lock him up if they were concerned about him attacking them. It would make more sense. Law's conclusion to the conversation that had occurred minutes prior to standing in the infirmary by himself? Luffy and his people were insane, and the dark haired pirate had no easy means to escape them.

A terrifying prospect.

But that was a moot point right now, because Law had learned something important as soon as he had demanded his weapon back. He should have realized that it would be foolish to think that making a threat would have gotten him what he wanted. Especially after he had just attacked Luffy with the nodachi. But it was the statement that had been made in return that caused Law to scowl when he thought back on it.

_"If you let Chopper check you for injuries, you can have your blade back. With interest, of course."_

It appeared as if Luffy wasn't the only one to make some kind of bargain with the devil or something of the sort. That orange haired woman was equally as suspicious and devious as Straw Hat and that skeleton from before. The woman was, in fact, almost worse than the skeleton's music and Luffy's overly cheerful demeanor, which Law at first found hard to believe.

At least, until the woman, Nami, he recalled was her name, had not only managed to talk him into allowing Chopper to check him for any wounds, but she had also somehow managed to convince him that he owed her money.

_"And don't forget, you still owe me some beli. I lent you some on the island we anchored at after Dressrosa."_

Law wasn't sure why Nami had been so insistent on money, and had questioned it. But whenever he tried to state that he owed her nothing, the orange haired woman smiled and told him that he didn't remember because his memory was hazy.

_"And when you do remember, you'll know that you owe me interest on what I lent to you as well. I hope you have 100,000 beli on you. Or your crew does. I will get my beli one way or other."_

Law recalled that he had bitten off a response, as he had figured that it would be useless to argue. That he had settled for glowering at Nami instead. Something she had said had distracted him. She had said that he had a crew. So did that mean that he was the captain of his own ship? Why had he been around these people in the first place, if that was the case? Had his crew been similar to these people? Law hoped not.

Law brought himself back to the present as he crossed his arms moodily and tapped his fingers against his bare forearms. Law hated the fact that he was where he was now because he had been hustled into the nearest cabin against his will, after those extra arms had vanished and stopped restraining him. Law shook his head in exasperation as he came to the end of his reflection on all of the idiocy that had thus far been visited upon him.

The cabin, or rather, infirmary, was rather dreary, and Law still shivered now and again, despite the fact that he had stripped down to his boxers and had dried himself off with a towel. Maybe it was just because he hadn't been able to put any new, warm and dry clothing because Chopper had insisted upon checking for wounds, since his skin was exposed.

So where the hell had that little animal gotten to?

"Ah, sorry to make you wait. I just wanted to make sure that there was a change of clothing for you."

Law pushed away from the wall of the infirmary as Chopper entered the room. "It's freezing in here." Even as he said it, Law knew it wasn't true. And the dark haired pirate realized that the cold was more pleasant than anything. If only his hair weren't still damp as it was. Law ran a hand absently through his hair, shaking water droplets free. He let his hand drop. It didn't seem to do any good. The hair was still damp.

"Could you sit down on the bed?"

For the most part, Law held still and allowed the small reindeer to examine him. In fact, he found himself ignoring Chopper as he was far more fascinated with the tattoos he'd just discovered. Law had been so focused on his loss of memory of Luffy and the others, and of his own, that he hadn't bothered to take a good look at himself. Law, as soon as he knew that Chopper was finished with his arms, immediately began to inspect the tattoos more closely. The dark haired pirate raised a brow at the sight of the letters that spelled out 'death' on each hand on his knuckles. Wasn't he cheerful? He wondered if his old self had good reason for that to be there. Law cast a cursory eye over the tattoos across the back of his hand and forearm, and then tilted his head down to inspect the large tattoo splayed across his chest. Faint scars traced across his chest and abdomen here and there, but the symbol there was clear.

A heart shape. With a smiley face in the enter of it, toward the top of the tattoo.

Law was more confused than ever. Why the hell did he have a heart of all things tattooed across his chest? And why did he have so many tattoos in the first place?

"Can you lean over or lie down? I need to check your head now."

Law complied, and flopped down onto the bed, though he did have a question for Chopper as the other began to pat his head gently. "Do I have a tattoo on my back as well?" He had them nearly everywhere else, so he assumed it to be the case.

Chopper carefully felt around Law's temple as he responded. "Yes, you do."

It figured. And there was no point in asking the reindeer or the other people on this ship why he had the tattoos. Law somehow doubted that he would give away such information to others. It seemed somehow...more private. Law wasn't sure why, but that made sense to him anyway. He hoped that Chopper was nearly finished, because he really wanted to get a good look at himself in the mirror. Although he doubted that it was going to trigger anything. He was mainly curious, and also wanted a better look at the tattoo across his chest.

Law's attention was briefly drawn to Chopper as the small animal hopped down off the bed that he lie on, and went across the room to open a cupboard. "Well?" Was he or wasn't he injured? Law didn't think he was, because he wasn't bleeding anywhere as far as he could tell.

Chopper returned and dabbed some ointment on Law's left cheek, as the dark haired pirate reclined on the bed.

It stung, but Law held still to allow the other to finish, and only faintly twitched as Chopper placed a patch over his cheek.

"I didn't find any obvious injuries. Only where Luffy punched you earlier." Chopper indicated Law's left cheek. "Other than that, there were no injuries that I can attribute to you loss of memory."

Law guessed as much. He was going to mull it over, but he was instead compelled to ask a question. Chopper wasn't very intimidating, so he felt that it was fine. It was a question that had been bothering him anyway. "Why does Luffy think of me as a friend, even after I attacked him?"

Chopper was putting the medical supplies away. "That's just the way Luffy is. Once he decides that you're his friend, you are, no matter what."

Law wasn't sure that that actually answered his question, but took it for what it was. His stomach growling interrupted his train of thought in any case. Odd. He thought he would have noticed that he was hungry sooner. This memory loss was a very irritating distraction if it made him forget to eat. Though he also blamed Straw Hat and his people. Or were they a pirate crew? They _were_ pirates, weren't they? Even if, in his mind, they didn't seem to act like it. Then again, Law didn't remember what he was like as a pirate. His stomach grumbled again, and he cursed it for yet again disrupting his very important thoughts.

"I'll go see if dinner is ready." Chopper offered, and headed for the door. "There are some clothes on the chair in the corner. They were the ones that you left on the ship."

Law watched Chopper exit the cabin, before he rose and stretched. Working out a kink in his neck, Law padded over to the aforementioned chair. Law slipped on a near identical pair of jeans with spots on them in a pattern, and chanced a look in the mirror. The tattoo across his chest was still a stylized looking heart. He looked at his face, and decided he wasn't bad looking at all. Quiet attractive, in fact, though being a pirate, he figured that he was likely on the run most of the time. Law very much doubted that the marines cared about whether a pirate was attractive or not when trying to arrest or kill them.

A pirate was a pirate.

The dark haired pirate grumbled a few choice words in exasperation. Why was he even having such a train of thought? It was not something that actually mattered. Giving a shake of the head at the stupidity, Law looked at the mirror. He noted that there were dark circles beneath his eyes. Law presumed that he must not get enough sleep. Maybe it was Luffy and the others fault that he couldn't get a decent nights rest. His eyes were puzzled, and Law lifted his gaze up to settle on his hair. Messy, like he couldn't be bothered to brush it. Law ran a hand through it. Not as dirty as expected, which meant he had to have taken showers on a regular basis. Or it could have been because of the sea water. He supposed it would be a big assumption that pirates didn't bathe anyway. Though some of the people on the ship he was trapped on certainly could do with one.

The dark haired pirate's eyes drifted back to the tattoo across his chest. The picture stirred something inside of him, but he couldn't figure out what, or why, that would be the case. Law shook his head and pulled the sweater on, fussing with the feathers around the collar so that it didn't tickle his neck overly so. Law traced the large smile like symbol on the front of the sweater as he studied it in the mirror. This symbol definitely meant something to him, but to be honest, he again couldn't remember. But he did know that it was important to him.

But why?

What did it mean?

Law shook his head and turned away. There was no use dwelling on something he couldn't recall. That really was getting old, not being able to remember things. Law knew that he needed to eat something for the moment, so perhaps he could question Luffy and the others while they ate. Even if he didn't like the idea that he would be surrounded by people he wasn't exactly sure were friends or enemies. As Law shoved the door open to go find Chopper, another, more immediate concern came to mind.

His nodachi.

Law wanted his weapon back if he was going to put himself in close contact with these people. He really only wanted it to defend himself with. Law dismissed the idea of food, as the desire to retrieve his nodachi took over. Law paused outside the cabin briefly, his gaze sweeping the immediate area. Law caught sight of someone, and made his way across the deck in their direction. He was going to get his weapon back one way or another. He wasn't going to allow these people to do as they wished, without even consulting him on whether he was okay with said decision being made or not.

He was going to attempt to put an end to that right now. And the closest person to him right now was that orange haired woman.

Nami.

The one that had convinced him to go with Chopper, along with some encouragement of the rest of the people. Crew. Those that had been nearest had been more than happy to help usher Law into the cabin when he'd initially refused to do so without his weapon.

Law would start with her. There was no one else in sight for the time being. The dark haired man stopped only a few feet from her, and Nami seemed to notice his presence, because she looked at him. She had been staring at the sky before. "Oh? Chopper finished already?"

That wasn't exactly how he wanted the conversation to start, and Law decided he may as well respond. "He did. He said there didn't seem to be anything wrong." Law may not even have to resort to being heavy handed if he could talk reason with one of these people. Nami seemed saner than most of the people on board the ship anyway.

Nami eyed him skeptically. "There obviously _is_ something wrong if most of your memory is gone."

"I realize that much, at least." Law returned irritably. Maybe this was going to be harder than he thought. He noticed that Nami held something, but he decided he didn't care, because he was far more concerned with being armed. "Where's my nodachi?"

"We're not giving it back to you." Nami replied bluntly.

"You said you would if I got checked over for wounds." Law reminded the woman. He wondered if she had forgotten, but highly doubted it. And he didn't like the gleam in her eyes that appeared with his statement.

"We had to convince you to go with Chopper. You made it harder than it needed to be." Nami made some kind of sign with her thumb and forefinger. "So now it's going to cost you. And I think it was clear from our last landing on shore that you have no beli left, as I had to lend you some. Which you still owe me, like I said before."

"I should not have to pay to get my own belongings back." Law retorted instantly as he took a step toward Nami. He ignored the whole 'owing her money that he didn't remember owing her' for another time. "Now where is it?"

Nami dismissed him as she went back to keep an eye on the sky. "Who knows? I asked someone else to hide it for me. So I don't know." She offered a wicked smile. "It will cost you to get that information too. And since you don't have money, just leave it be. You don't have any enemies on this ship, so you don't need a weapon anyway."

"You all have a funny way of showing that." Law growled, as he stopped a foot or so away from Nami. "I won't ask again." He was not in the mood to be led along, and he knew, from patting his pockets, that he didn't have any money, as the orange haired woman had mentioned. But really, he shouldn't have to pay a damn thing. She and those other people had all but wrenched his blade from his grasp earlier.

When Nami said nothing, Law let out a low growl of annoyance and reached out, his right hand closing tight around Nami's upper right arm. "Where is it?" He hadn't expected Nami to give him a look of utter surprise at the way he was manhandling her, but chose to ignore it, because he wanted to know where his damn nodachi was already.

"Let go."

Law narrowed his eyes at the demand, and chose again to ignore it. Maybe it would get Nami to spill the beans more quickly. A sharp pain in his foot distracted him, and his grasp, instead of loosening, tightened. He glared at the orange haired woman, as she had just stamped on one of his feet.

"Let. Go. Or else. I don't think you want to be laid out on the deck, do you?"

Law smirked at that. "Oh? Are you going to do that?" He highly doubted it. She could try, but he had a good enough leverage that it would amount to nothing.

"I guess you do." Nami shook her head, as if it was Law being the foolish one instead of the other way around. Then, the orange haired woman raised her voice. "Sanji! Law's having another lapse and he won't let go of me!"

The dark haired pirate blinked in confusion. He was not. He had a perfectly clear mind at present, despite jumbled memories. But that didn't matter because he was suddenly lying flat on his back, his arm throbbing from where he thought he'd just been kicked. It hurt like hell. Law refused to make a sound as he lie there. So much for these people being not a danger to him. Law gripped the limb to his body tightly as he curled defensively to make a smaller target should he be gone after again. Through the sudden pain, he heard voices. One of them was Nami, and the other was likely Sanji, the one she had called for.

"I didn't tell you to kick him like that!"

"But it looked like he was hurting you!"

"I was fine. He was just holding on. He only wanted to know where his weapon is."

"So he grabbed you."

"I wasn't telling him where it was, and he didn't like that." There was a pause. "I think you may have injured him."

"Good. He shouldn't have done that to you."

There was an exasperated sigh from Nami, before she could be heard crossing the deck. "Chopper! Where are you? Come take a look at Law's arm."

Law remained curled up, the pain nearly unbearable, but he continued to remain silent and still. Sitting up or anything of the like was going to get him kicked again. His arm might come off with another one of those agonizing kicks. He managed to place Sanji's voice however. He was the one that had rescued him from drowning. Law had been right. These people changed their minds on a whim and were dangerous and unbalanced.

There was a patter of feet that drew near, coupled with a high pitched exclamation. "What did you do? He was fine when I left him five minutes ago!"

"Sanji happened." Nami said, as she came to a halt before the prone Law.

Law didn't like the tone, and sat up, even as it sent a sharp throb of pain through his right arm. Law clutched his limb close to his body, defensive now, as he glared at Nami. "And just who called him here?"

Nami studied the dark haired pirate for a moment, before she stepped forward with a shake of her head. "You're going to feel so stupid when you do get your memory back."

Law was about to take offense to that, but instead ended up letting out a muffled grunt of surprise as Nami stuffed something soft onto his head. But in the process, his vision went dark. It led him to believe in that instant that Nami had done something to blind him. Really, there was no need to maim him. He'd only grabbed her arm. It wasn't like he would have done anything other than perhaps sling her over his shoulder and carry her around the ship until she gave him the location of his damn nodachi. Before Law could react to the sinister act of sudden vision loss, something that felt like a thin quarterstaff struck him square in the gut, and sent him falling backward again. Law's head hit the deck, but whatever was on his head took a bit of the force, so he merely grimaced at the impact.

What had just happened?

There was a light thwack of the staff against his chest, accompanied by Nami's voice. "Next time you decide to grab me like that and not let go, I'll make sure that I hit you else where." The staff tapped just above his waist this time, before it drew away.

Law, despite the sudden pain he was in from his right arm, subconsciously twisted away from Nami at the warning. He already sported the bruise on his cheek from Luffy punching him. And likely a souvenir from where he'd just been kicked. He didn't need an ache somewhere else that would be much more agonizing and very difficult to ignore. Not to mention embarrassing. Law gave Nami a dark look, warning her off. He somehow felt that he normally wasn't on the receiving end of a beating from these people, if at all.

The orange haired woman merely returned the three pieces of her weapon to her hip, and resumed looking at the sky. "I'm trying to concentrate. I think that a storm might be coming."

There most certainly was going to be a storm as soon as Law had his hands on his nodachi. Besides, the sky was a perfectly clear evening with no clouds in sight. And in any case, Law's arm was much more important to him than any storm might be right now. Law even allowed Chopper to take a look at him this time. Mainly because he was concerned that something had been broken, even if he could still feel it and twitch his fingers. The dark haired pirate lifted his left hand to his head to feel what Nami had placed there that had disoriented him. Law took the soft material off and stared at it.

A hat.

A white hat with brown spots.

Law turned it this way and that as he looked it over, and spoke aloud. "Is this...mine?" It certainly went along with the spotted pattern on his pants that he had changed into earlier in the cabin.

"Yes, that's yours. It must have fallen off in the marine base when we were being chased." Nami provided, even if she didn't appear particularly pleased at Law's actions thus far. It was almost as if she expected him to try something like he had again, but doubted it due to him grimacing each time Chopper prodded his right arm.

"I picked it up." Luffy added. The straw hat wearing young man had obviously wandered over to see what the commotion was about. "You wore it all the time on Punk Hazard, and on the way to Dressrosa. You did lose it there, but that Cabbage guy found it for you." Luffy seemed to realize that Law was in pain, and he tilted his head quizzically. "What happened to you?"

"...nothing." Law said, as he decided that it was best the other pirate didn't know what he had been up to. Even if Law believed he was justified going so far to get to the bottom of where his damn blade had gotten to.

"This guy thought it was a good idea to manhandle information out of Nami, so I kicked him." Sanji said as he lit a cigarette.

"Oh. How come?" Luffy wondered. "Is it 'cause he's hungry?"

"No, he just wanted to know where his weapon is. I told him he couldn't have it." Nami replied, and looked away from the sky. "We need to turn the ship 40 degrees starboard. A storm is coming."

Someone on the upper deck acknowledged Nami's words, but Law was not paying attention. Mostly because Luffy had just decided to say something that utterly confused him yet again.

"Let him have his weapon then."

Both Nami and Sanji gave Luffy an appalled look.

Law, for his part, silently stared at Luffy as if he were insane. Why would he even suggest that after what he'd just done?

"You don't know what he will do when he has it, so why would you say that?" Nami demanded. "Did you miss the fact that he just grabbed my arm because I wouldn't tell him what he wanted to know?"

"He just wants that sword back, right? So if he has it, everything will be fine." Luffy acted as if this weren't a big problem, and was even picking his nose to show just how little he cared about the topic one way or another. It was as if he thought the solution was as simple as he had just stated.

Nami let out a groan like she couldn't believe how simpleminded Luffy was.

Law couldn't either, but he was drawn to the throbbing pain that was his right arm, before he was offered some good news from Chopper.

"Nothing seems to be broken. You should ice it though. I can get you some in the galley."

Sanji wandered off after extinguishing his cigarette. "I need to finish cooking. I hope it's not burned. That would be a waste." Sanji jabbed a finger Law's way. "So you'll be eating that, because it would be your fault if anything burned because you were threatening Nami."

Law didn't think that was fair, but didn't bother saying anything in response to that. He hadn't exactly threatened Nami. He had been more aggravated than anything with her insistence on money in return for information. As for burnt food...Law didn't particularly care, so long as he got something to eat. Burnt food would be better than nothing. Law dismissed the blond from his mind as he ran his fingers lightly over his upper right arm. He traced the scar that went all the way around the limb. Curious. What kind of a wound was that? He didn't remember seeing it there before. It was almost as if someone had...

"Hey! Sanji! I want a lot of meat for dinner! Lots!"

Law stopped Luffy's cheerful call for meat with a single statement. "Why are there scars all the way around my arm?"

Those within hearing went completely silent, Luffy included.

Law looked up and studied their expressions. They were hard to read. Law's eyes settled on Luffy, because he appeared to be more affected by the question than the others. "What happened?"

It seemed to be the wrong question to ask, but Law saw no reason why that would be the case. The silence, however, was telling. Something _had_ obviously happened, and Law wanted to know what.

Luckily for Luffy and the others, and much to Law's consternation, Sanji yelled out the door into the awkward silence that very moment.

"Oy! Dinner's ready!"

Luffy seemed to snap out of whatever mood he'd suddenly been in and charged toward the open door, his mind back on food. "Meat!"

Law hesitated for a moment, before he trailed off after the other people as they dispersed. But not even the green haired swordsman demanding sake could distract Law from what he had just seen. It troubled him, the way Luffy had looked at him after his question about the scar. Luffy had appeared to be quite upset, but why? It wasn't like he had been the one who had been injured. Was it because he had witnessed Law receive the injury? Or had he seen it after it had been inflicted upon him? It had to have been bad to elicit such a response.

Law paused just outside the open door, before he stepped inside, doubt swirling within him. There was no reason that he should be bothered at all by any of these people's reactions. He didn't know them. At least, he hadn't remembered anything yet. Law silently sat down on the nearest open space on a bench amidst the cacophony of the crew settling in for dinner. The dark haired pirate hadn't even realized at this point that he was now surrounded by all of these people as his mind dwelt on what he had just witnessed.

Why?

Why had they reacted in such a way to his questions?

As doubt continued to eat away at him, it caused him to consider an absurd possibility. Had they been the ones to injure him? Was that why they had looked the way they had? Was it guilt? Or something else?

Law stared at a rice ball that had been shoved his way and stared at it as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world. Law picked the rice ball up. No, there was no way these people would have done that to him. He had heard how reluctant Luffy had been to punch him earlier, and the only reason Nami had lashed out was because he had been in the wrong with his actions. Law automatically took a bite out of the rice ball, before making a face, musings laid aside for the moment as he bitched about what he'd just been forced to swallow. "Who the hell put sour plums in this?"

The resulting laughter at his indignant demand utterly baffled him, but it must have meant that the dark haired pirate had just remembered something else about himself. Food preferences weren't the first thing that Law would have preferred to remember, but he would take whatever he could. It was all he could do right now. Learn a little of himself bit by bit, and hope for the best.

At least, that was the idea, until Law suddenly had bread thrust into his immediate vision. Law focused his gaze on Luffy's grin. It appeared as though straw hat seemed to know of his newly discovered dislike of bread, and Law decided to express his displeasure then and there.

It became apparent very quickly that Law just couldn't win around these people, no matter what he did.

Luffy and his crew were quite perplexing individuals.


	4. Chapter 4

Luffy and his crew, along with being the perplexing individuals that they were, also happened to be incredibly exhausting to be around.

Law hadn't quite figured it out when he sat down to eat, but the dark haired pirate found out soon enough. It was too bad that by then there was no escape, and he would just have to deal with the lively atmosphere if he wanted to eat. But even that was difficult to concentrate on, because none of the people around him appeared to understand the concept of personal space. They jostled one another as they ate, reaching for food without regard to bumping into one another at the table.

Law might have been able to ignore the chaos and general irritant of being bumped while attempting to eat, if not for the fact that Luffy had decided to stretch across the damn table. Straw Hat was currently too close for comfort, and he held a sandwich a scant inch from Law's nose. The dark haired pirate leaned away and narrowed his eyes at Luffy to warn him off, but it only seemed to encourage the other.

"Come on, try it! Sanji's sandwiches are great!" Luffy waved the sandwich cheerfully.

Law gave both Luffy and the sandwich a haughty look as he summed up his feelings on the matter in one word. "No." Of course, Law should have figured that his feelings on the matter wouldn't be accepted by Luffy. Straw Hat was suddenly on the bench next to him, and he continued to be damn persistent in his goal of attempting to get Law to try the sandwich. Law's hand snapped up to grab Luffy's wrist to hold back the bread as the other waved the food in his face. "I said _no_ , Straw Hat-ya. I hate bread."

The chatter around Law died down as the crew, and Luffy, all stared at him, before several of them smiled. Law tensed up immediately in response. What? What had he done or said? Why were they smiling? Was it because he had grabbed Luffy's wrist to hold back the sandwich from his face? Why were they looking at him like that?

"Do you remember me then?" Luffy asked, the sandwich in his hand momentarily forgotten as he studied Law.

The dark haired pirate let go of Luffy's wrist and turned away. "No. It just came out." And the words had. They'd sprung unbidden to his mind. But it would figure that he would choose not use Luffy's name if he were being annoying. Calling him by the hat that he wore seemed to be good enough for now. Law's left hand twitched as Luffy intruded on his personal space even further, that damn bread looming toward him as if mocking him. Seriously, why was Luffy so determined that he try something he knew that he didn't like, for whatever reason? Memory loss wasn't going to make him like something.

Luffy didn't seem to notice Law's defensive posture. "Huh? You remember that but you don't remember me? What's up with that? Are you stupid?"

Law rounded on Luffy as he took offense with that last statement. With a low growl, Law started to grit out a response, "I'm not...!" What he wasn't was lost to Law as Luffy had just taken the opportunity to stuff part of the sandwich into his mouth. Law froze in place instantly, mortified, even as Luffy looked immensely pleased with himself as he ate the rest of the sandwich.

"Good, right?" Luffy misinterpreted Law's expression entirely, mainly because he'd accomplished getting Law to try the food. And since there wasn't an immediate negative comment, Luffy apparently took it as agreement. The straw hat wearing pirate promptly ignored Law in favor of finding more to eat, and called across the table in a loud voice. "Hey, Sanji! Are there any more sandwiches?"

"You've already eaten 8 of them!"

"But I'm still hungry!" Luffy responded immediately as he slumped across the table. "I need to build up my strength with lots of meat sandwiches if those marines come after us." Luffy looked over at Sanji hopefully. "Three more?"

"One!"

Law remained where he was, unable to move or unwilling to move, before he seemed to come back to himself. Law hastily spat out what bread was still in his mouth like it was poisonous. He wiped a hand across the back of his mouth before he zeroed in on Luffy with a glare.

That was _it_.

Law was not going to tolerate this any longer. Being in a crowded space was one thing. Being in a crowded space and being harassed by someone he thought of as a nuisance was a bit much. Especially when said nuisance made him eat bread. Something Law just knew that he hated. Just like how he knew he hadn't liked sour plums. And had he mentioned that he didn't like that Straw Hat had intruded into his personal space?

The dark haired pirate's left hand lifted slightly as he held it out. Law honestly didn't know what he was going to do. Perhaps bat the bread out of Luffy's hand. The fool had grabbed another sandwich. Or perhaps he was going to strike Luffy upside the head, to dissuade him. Law wasn't sure that would work. It might only encourage him to try and find more things to annoy him with. Instead, a thought came to mind, and Law decided that he might as well give it a shot, because it seemed like the right thing to do with the way he held his left hand out.

"Room."

Law surprised himself at the reappearance of the spherical dome at that word, but the other pirates around him appeared excited by the sight. It became apparent in no time at all that Law's newly rediscovered powers were going to be a problem, because he couldn't for the life of him figure out how to work them. And that was a problem because he felt the sensation of his energy, or was it stamina, being slowly sapped from him. It was a very odd sensation, like the way he had felt on the marine base, when the room was larger. What was it, magic? It _had_ come out of nowhere. It did not help Law in the least bit that Luffy and his friends were trying to offer him advice, when the dark haired pirate was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that he had made the sphere appear.

"Hey, I thought you said he couldn't use his powers."

Law wondered why the long nosed person across the table appeared nervous of him. It wasn't like the sphere was doing anything other than just being there.

"But he can, so that means he must have remembered something."

It was painfully clear that Law's attempt at intimidation had failed spectacularly in the face of these people. That didn't help bolster his confidence in the least. Did nothing faze these people?

"Hey, can you warp now?"

Law furrowed his brow. He could what now? How would that even be possible? That was definitely some kind of magic if one could appear in one place and reappear in another. Law highly doubted that he was capable of such a thing.

"Probably not. Look at him. He looks surprised that that room even came up."

Law frowned as he observed the blue sphere around him. He had made it appear, that was for sure. But it was only there because he had been highly irate with Luffy, and had felt something compel him to call on those powers that he'd been previously told he had. The dark haired pirate's eyes roved over the sphere again, and felt that it was definitely smaller than before. It could be different sizes? Interesting. How exactly did that work? The dark haired pirate might have thought some more of the matter of magically appearing spheres, before Luffy decided to open his mouth to annoy him further.

"Hey! Switch someone around! You know, like what you did on Punk Hazard."

Really, what was it with these people and no personal boundaries? Law moved away from the grinning Luffy and sat down again, further from everyone in the galley. Not that it appeared to help, because no one appeared to be leaving any time soon. Law did get some amusement out of Nami telling Luffy off.

"What would happen if he couldn't use his powers again to switch us back? Don't go trying to get Law to do something he might not recall how to fix!"

"I'll work out just fine."

"No, it wouldn't!"

Luffy laughed, but went back to his sandwich, as if the brief almost-scuffle with Law hadn't occurred. It didn't seem to bother him that Law had chosen to sit further away. Nor that the dark haired pirate now wore a sullen expression in response to the general pleasantries going on around him.

Law was puzzled about the whole switching around thing that Luffy had mentioned, but decided that it was a much bigger problem that he couldn't make the room vanish. And Law could feel the telltale sign of exhaustion tug at him, which meant that the spherical dome around him was sapping him again. Law really had no desire to be knocked unconscious again, so the dark haired pirate furrowed his brow in thought. How had he made it appear in the first place? Well, he knew that it was done in direct retaliation to Luffy harassing him with bread. But how did he do it?

Something drifted rapidly through Law's mind, before he was able to reach out for it and grasp it. Law was able to settle on the knowledge that had presented itself, and with that knowledge, realized that it was a simple thing to let go of the power and dismiss it, until he needed it again. Law focused on the sphere, before he relaxed and concentrated on it.

The room was suddenly gone, as if it had never been there.

Law let out a soft sigh of relief. At least now he knew how to activate the strange power, as well as how to make it disperse. To do anything useful with it was more than he decided he was ready for. Why Law thought he could do something was because of some echoing reminder in his head that he wondered if it was the source of the power. The other reason for feeling that way was that Luffy had just mentioned that he could do something with the power.

The dark haired pirate eyed all of the people chattering around him, before he decided that now was most definitely not the best time to test out his newly rediscovered powers.

Although, as soon as the idle chatter turned to introductions, Law felt that he may be forced to resort to drastic measures. For the most part, Law didn't particularly care about what the crew did on the ship and was more concerned about putting faces to names. The long nosed sniper was Usopp, the weird robot 'super' spewing person was Franky, the green haired swordsman was identified as Zoro, and the black haired woman was Robin. The rest Law had already heard names for. But what had distracted Law from taking in the roles of the crew fully was the fact that Luffy had been the first to introduce himself, wearing a massive smile.

"I'm Luffy, and I'm the captain! And I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

Law's thought process came to a screeching halt as he tried to process what he had just heard from the straw hat wearing pirate. He was the captain? Why? How? The very idea appalled Law for some reason. It was maddening. Who would have guessed that fool was the captain? And the rest of his crew was fine with following after such an idiot? Being unable to comprehend the idea was what led to Law only vaguely following along with what the rest of the crew said when they introduced themselves.

The dark haired pirate had no time to recover as after the introductions were out of the way, Luffy and his crew launched straight into what had been going on leading up to Law's loss of memory at the marine base. At the very least, it answered Law's question of why he was with these people in the first place if he had a crew of his own. For the most part. A few of the details were rather sketchy.

"We originally went to the base for a few maps and a specific item that the marines were to have there." Robin wore a thoughtful look. "Though it remains to be seen if they actually do have what it was we'd been looking for."

"We heard rumors about it." Sanji said from where he was cleaning up the kitchen.

Nami shook her head as she twisted in her seat to look straight at Law. "And _you_ were the one who had stressed to us all that it was important that we got this item out of marine hands."

"It is supposed to be useful against Kaido." Zoro added from where he was sneaking a bottle of sake out from under Sanji's nose.

"Only we don't know how, because you were the one that had more info on it." Nami gave Law a look of exasperation. "You had wanted to get your hands on the item before telling us what it was." It was clear that the orange haired navigator thought that Law should have shared the why before they'd gone to an island crawling with marines.

Law watched in silence as Nami rounded on Luffy. The dark haired pirate hadn't even noticed that Luffy had wandered off to try and scrounge up even more food.

The orange haired navigator put a halt to it. "Hey, Luffy. At least try and help us with jogging Law's memory. It's clear that he doesn't remember why we went to the marine base in the first place."

Luffy brightened as he automatically avoided Sanji as the cook took a swift swipe at him for stealing one last sandwich. Luffy hopped nimbly back onto the nearby bench and stretched on side of his mouth before he let it snap back into place. "I'm a rubber man. Remember that?"

Law's disgruntled look made it clear that he did not. Although he was disturbed by the sight of a rubber person, it still seemed to mean something to him. What, Law couldn't remember. And not remembering was getting very old.

Luffy saw that what he had done had had no effect, because immediately switched tracks. "Oh, right. What about Dressrosa then? Would that help him remember?"

"That might not be the best..." Robin tried to interrupt, but Luffy had decided that that was the best course of action, as he enthusiastically launched into the explanation of what had happened there. Since there was no use dissuading Luffy from his current path, Robin got Chopper's attention, and the two of them quietly excused themselves to go consult some medical books.

Which left the rest of the crew and Law to listen to Luffy's spotty account of Dressrosa.

Law wasn't quite sure what Luffy was trying to do other than make his brain melt under terrible explanations and beating people up. And calling people by very random descriptors that wouldn't have helped even if he could remember names or faces. It was only when Luffy got to Doflamingo that Law had any reaction at all, and that was another surprise he hadn't expected. And it was more terrible than he'd thought it would have been. Just hearing the man's name again made his skin crawl, and Law subconsciously let his left hand rest on his right arm.

"Oh, and that mingo was a jerk. He had beat you up pretty bad. He even cut your arm off. I'm glad it was able to go back to normal though."

"But Doflamingo was able to get away." Zoro reminded Luffy. "Or did someone haul him off without you noticing?"

"Well, Law needed his arm fixed. I didn't notice if mingo was gone or not." Luffy said in reply, as if this were an obvious reason.

No one seemed to notice that Law had begun to shake faintly, nor run his left hand tentatively and repeatedly along the scar around his upper right arm. But they certainly did take notice when Law suddenly flew into a panic.

Law stumbled away from the bench he'd been seated on, and into the nearest wall. His arm...his arm had been completely severed from his body? How? How was it that it was reattached? What had happened? How did he not die of blood loss? And what about this Doflamingo person? Were they still around, or were they no longer a danger to him? Luffy and the others apparently had no idea. It didn't sit well with Law, or make him feel...safe at all. There was a sick feeling that had settled in his stomach about the whole thing. But why? Why did he feel that way?

"Dammit Luffy, you set him off."

"But he remembered something. That's good, isn't it?"

Law ignored the people that were around him, and felt the sudden urge to leave. He had to get out of there. What if that person that had cut his arm off returned to finish the job? What if they were still nearby and none of them had noticed? Law felt that he needed fresh air, but he was foiled in his attempt to do so as two pairs of arms seized him and held him in place. Law wasn't sure what he thought he was going to do, but was almost relieved in a way that he was being prevented from lashing out or flailing or whatever the hell it was that he suddenly felt he needed to do. But it didn't stop him from trying to get away.

Luckily, the two pirates that had restrained him were able to prevent him from his single minded goal of escape, and in the end, Law only managed to tire himself out. He'd even slumped against the wall to let his head rest there. His breathing was erratic and his heart rate was still elevated, but Law felt that he had calmed enough to see that it was foolish to get himself worked up over someone that he had little to no information about. Canon fire joined the confused jumble that was his mind, and it was only after hearing shouts from the people on the ship that Law realized they were being attacked. By who? Other pirates? Or marines? One of the shots fired appeared to hit the ship, but it didn't seem to have done much damage.

Damage...

That suddenly seemed to be insignificant to Law. His hand twitched as he became aware of the fact that he was still being restrained. Why? Why was he being held back like that?

Danger.

He was in danger. He needed to fight back.

Law tensed up as the irrational urge to lash out at the people around him returned to him.

Fight. He needed to fight back.

It was only then that Law seemed to really think about, and realize, that the two men were a danger. That they were a danger to _him_.

A threat.

A threat that needed to be eliminated.

Law didn't remember much of the next few minutes. It was as if he were possessed of a desire to rid himself of everything around him until only he remained. He didn't even remember how he'd gotten free of the green haired swordsman and the blond haired man, but he had. Law had also recovered his nodachi, but he didn't use it for long. Instead, he'd been taken down, and apparently, the ship had been able to get out of range of cannon fire.

And then, just like that, Law was himself again. Mostly. Without a large chunk of his memory, but no longer with the desire to attack. The sensation was but a speck in his mind now, and was easily ignored. Law did not protest his nodachi being taken this time around. He understood too well now that it was a bad idea if he was having these...lapses...as Nami had called them. He doubted that it was that, but he didn't have anything else to call it at this point. Just as Law sat up, several voices started to speak at once.

"Usopp got hit with the shrapnel from that cannon fire that glanced off the railing on the starboard side!"

"Doctor! We need a doctor!"

"You _are_ the doctor!"

"Ah! That's right!"

Law was close enough to see the piece of broken railing sticking out of Usopp's boot. It looked worse than it probably was, but that remained to be seen. He'd have to take a look at it. Law frowned. But...why would he be taking a look at an injury? The longer Law observed the wound, the more he felt he could do something about it. And then, the injury appeared to trigger something inside of him. Like the way the knowledge had come to him of how to fight, but this time around it was medical knowledge that surfaced in his mind. Law heard Chopper whisper something but ignored it completely as he rose and approached Usopp before he knelt down. Law didn't appear to notice Usopp's expression. If he had, Law would have been irked to see that the sniper thought he was going to attack him.

Though, to be fair, Law could have done just that if he hadn't been tackled to the deck before he could do much damage.

Law ran his fingertips lightly along the outside of the wound, before he spoke aloud vaguely, as if he weren't altogether there. "Tony, get the medical supplies." If Law gave any indication that he had said the name, he didn't outwardly show it. Law kept his attention on the wound until Chopper returned. Law's focus was entirely on the injury, but he knew that he had automatically used something to cleanse his hands before he'd begun the careful task of removing the wooden splinters. He exchanged few words with Chopper as they sterilized the wound once they had managed to get rid of the splinters and taken off the boot, and got removed the remainder of the splinters that were still lodged in the skin.

It was only after the whole process had begun that Law realized the sight of blood didn't bother him, but even as the thought crossed his mind, he finished cleaning the wound, and went straight to threading a suture and sewing up the wound. As if he had done something like this many times over, and no longer really had to think about it. Law finished and removed the extra thread after tying it off, before he sat back and allowed Chopper to place ointment over the wound, and wrap it with bandages.

Usopp tested the limb carefully. While he did grimace, he appeared to be doing better than before. With a relieved sigh, Usopp looked between Chopper and Law. "T...Thanks."

"You should prop your leg up and keep off of it for awhile, Usopp." Chopper put the medical supplies away. "And you should take some medicine for the pain."

Usopp made as if to get up, then remembered that his leg was hurt and he couldn't do it on his right now.

"Jeez." Sanji commented from the sidelines, before he walked forward to assist Usopp. "Come on, just trying to watch you get up like that is painful."

"My leg nearly got torn off by a cannon." Usopp responded immediately, as he half hobbled across the deck with Sanji's help. "And be more gentle with me."

"You're fine."

"No, I'm not. _You_ might be able to walk after an injury like this, but you, Zoro and Luffy are crazy when it comes to injuries that keep a normal person down!"

"Yeah, yeah. And you can somehow survive falling from stories up." Sanji reached out with his free hand to shove open a door.

"That's different than being injured!"

"Is it?"

The cabin door closed, and Law turned away as he absently cleaned his hands again. Something bothered him about all that had just happened. Law voiced his unease to those around him, as if they would tell him the answers he sought. Perhaps they would. "How did I...know what to do?"

"You're a doctor. A surgeon." Nami supplied.

"You must be getting your memory back bit by bit." Robin commented.

"It seems that way." Law felt that it wasn't nearly fast enough, however, as he was uncertain just how long he would survive around Luffy and his crew before he lost his mind. Most unfortunately, thinking about these people again made a word sprang unbidden to his mind, and it solidified as he watched the people around him disperse to do whatever it was they were going to do.

Alliance.

An alliance.

He remembered that. At least...that it was him that had been the one to ask Luffy if he were interested in forming an alliance. Law stared blankly at the night sky. All of this craziness was because he had thought an alliance with these people had been a good idea?

What was he, an idiot?

As his mind swirled around the horror of what he considered a foolish decision, it was solidified by Luffy popping up alongside him.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

As Law allowed Luffy to drag him off to watch a few sea monsters fight in the sea, the dark haired man inwardly decided that he was most certainly an idiot. He just hoped there was an actual reason that he had found to put up with all these strange people. Otherwise he was merely tormenting himself.

"Awesome! Look at that thing!" Luffy turned his head and shouted. "Hey, Sanji! Can you cook that thing if we catch it?"

Sanji emerged from the cabin to join Luffy, and looked at the aforementioned creature his captain was drooling over. "It's a bit big but I could manage something with it."

Law silently backed away and retreated into the cabin he'd woken up in so that he would not witness Zoro, Sanji and Luffy harassing a giant sea monster in their attempt to eat it. No, Law felt he was most certainly an idiot. Who else in their right mind would willingly ally themselves with such unpredictable people?

-x-

Over the next several days, Law felt that he was steadily improving in terms of memory. He was remembering bits and pieces, even if it was nothing substantial. Law still didn't exactly remember Luffy and his crew, but he most certainly had learned quite a lot about them just by being on the same ship. And most unfortunately being forced to endure their madness, as well as occasionally joining in on it, much to his horror.

He just knew Luffy and the others were still laughing behind his back after that second night he was on the ship. Not only had they managed to coax him into drinking, but somehow copious amounts of alcohol had relaxed him enough that he ended up singing off key to some random songs along with a few of the others. He'd dunked his head in a bucket of water immediately afterward and had secluded himself in a cabin for half a day, horrified at what he had done. Law just knew that somewhere deep inside of him that he never did anything like that. And he could have sworn that he'd heard giggling turn into gales of laugher.

Law never drank again, suspicious of the crew's attention. Most unfortunately, most of them didn't seem willing to allow him to live down the whole singing thing.

Three days of relative peace and complete absurdity, however, was shattered by the time the fourth morning rolled in. That was when the marine ships caught up with them again.

Law stiffened in place as soon as he caught sight of those ships sailing toward them. And then he felt it. The sensation that made him want to attack those around him. The compulsion that he hadn't felt in days. Law gripped his nodachi tightly, before he blatedly realized that it was a mistake to have it back. He'd been given his weapon two days previously, but now, it didn't seem like such a good idea. In fact, the only reason he had it in the first place was because Luffy had insisted on it. Multiple times.

"Luffy!"

Law vaguely heard that black haired woman, Robin, speak to Straw Hat, but the dark haired pirate didn't bother to turn and look. He had more important matters to deal with. Like trying to fight back against the urge he was suddenly feeling once more.

"I've figured out what is wrong. Law doesn't have amnesia at all. His loss of memory is due to a Devil Fruit user's power!"

Luffy replied in away that showed how simple he thought the solution was. "Oh, so we just have to beat that person up and Law will go back to normal?"

"The Devil Fruit powers are stronger the closer the user is to Law. That is why Law has attacked us."

Law tuned Robin's voice out as he focused on the ships. Rather, he was having a difficult time thinking about much of anything. Law tried very hard to ignore the compulsion to fight or flee, but was unable to hold out for very long. And then there was that strange shift in his mind as memories settled there. And then Law knew, suddenly, what he was supposed to do. He was not to fight Luffy or the others. Not yet. He had to leave, and go to the other ship.

Escape.

He had to escape.

Law didn't question this. It would make sense that he was supposed to leave, even if there was that lingering trace of doubt in the back of his mind. Law began to cross the deck, and toward the marine one that had pulled up alongside the one he was currently on. Even if his footsteps happened to be hesitant, he continued to walk.

Marines...

Law thought he knew something about the marines.

But what?

Leave...

That was right...he needed to leave. And quickly. That was more important than trying to remember whatever it was that he'd been trying to think of.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Law attributed the voice to the individual known as Straw Hat Luffy. Apart from that, he dismissed the question. At least, until the speaker grabbed his left arm, and prevented him from leaving.

Danger. Enemy.

An enemy trying to prevent him from leaving. Something bad would happen if he didn't let go and let Law leave already.

"What's wrong with you?"

Law didn't think there was anything wrong. Expect...

Except everything was wrong. Not right.

Law stumbled forward as he managed to free his arm, before he turned to face Luffy...

...to face Straw Hat...

There was another shift in Law's memories, and Law knew that he was supposed to lash out at this one, and not the others, before he escaped. Something was wrong, but Law had no idea what, or why, until he drew his nodachi. He felt that he shouldn't attack Luffy, but why, then, did everything that he could remember point to the fact that he should?

Law's hearing was mixed up with all of the voices speaking around him. He couldn't make them out anyway. The only thing that really mattered anymore was to do what he was supposed to do.

Attack.

Injure.

Escape.

Law called on his Devil Fruit powers, the memory of what to do to use them back, as if the knowledge had never been gone in the first place. Law closed in on Luffy after warping around the deck of the ship. Law reappeared and raised his blade in a way that would run Straw Hat through. There was no dodging him from this angle, no matter what the other chose to do.

Quite unintentionally, Law made eye contact with Luffy as Straw Hat sensed him and turned around. Something seemed to click in Law's mind. No, struggle was a better word. It was as if his old self was resurfacing and rebelling against what he was being made to do. Old self? What old self? He was who he was. There was no one else. And he wasn't being made to do anything. It was something that he had discussed with someone before. At least, that was what made sense with what he remembered. The feeling was gone as quickly as it had come, but instead of stabbing Luffy through the chest as he had planned on, Law merely ended up slicing through the skin along the left side of Luffy's lower abdomen. More than a scratch, but certainly a nasty, bleeding wound all the same that would most likely need stitches.

But not fatal.

That seemed to satisfy Law, even if it wasn't because he had managed to land an attack. Rather, it was because he hadn't wounded Luffy more seriously. He didn't have much time to think about what that could mean, as the resulting cries of the people on the deck from his attack made Law swiftly draw back, taking his blade with him. The weird sensation back, and Law blinked, feeling as if he was in a fog as he looked around.

Luffy had moved away from him, but hadn't completely retreated. Instead, it looked like he was...

Law's hand clenched around the hilt of his nodachi, a word drifting across his mind as he stared at the wound he'd just made.

Wrong.

This was all wrong.

Why did he feel guilt...and anger, when he saw what he'd done?

Law turned away, the feeling gone as the desire to leave overtook him again, engulfing all other thoughts.

"Room."

Law ended up on the marine ship, yet the expression on Luffy's face remained with him. The dark haired pirate felt as if...Straw Hat had appeared to be quite upset. The marine ship had begun to sail away, and he couldn't help but glance back. He couldn't tell from where he stood, but it sounded like there were shouts still coming from the ship that he had just left. Even as the shouting grew to nothing, Law couldn't help but feel that it wasn't him that Luffy had been upset with. More that there had been some helpless rage for the way that Law had been forced to attack him.

Forced?

He hadn't been forced, had he?

A seed of doubt lodged itself into Law's mind as he absently cleaned his blade and sheathed it. He made no outward signs that he saw some marines approaching him, a brown haired one in the lead. He was still stuck on Luffy's reaction to his attack. And Law couldn't help but arrive at a troubling thought. One that he didn't want to consider, because it would mean that something was very wrong. But there was no other explanation for the way that Straw Hat Luffy had reacted to him. Law frowned, troubled as he considered the possibility.

Had he...made a mistake?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI for the made up Devil Fruit the vice admiral has...I figure that the powers won't necessarily effect the user themselves, at least not very easily, since I decided that he has to physically touch the person he uses the powers on (for the more debilitating aspects of the power). I suppose someone could trick him into putting a hand to his arm, but he isn't likely to activate the powers if he notices. Eh. Still kinda playing around with it. And he can only use his powers effectively on one person at a time (he could do more than one but I decided it wouldn't be as reliable).
> 
> Pfft, and Law is totally going to be ashamed/embarrassed by the end of this, and in a whole lot of denial.


	5. Chapter 5

Everything was backwards, and he didn't like it.

It was one thing that Law was second guessing himself about attacking Straw Hat Luffy. It was another thing altogether that he actually felt some semblance of guilt for the actions that he had taken. And that made no sense whatsoever, since there was no reason that Law should feel anything like guilt.

A mistake.

He had made a mistake, and Law was frustrated with himself that he couldn't land on why he was so certain that it was that. A mistake. But why would harming Straw Hat Luffy be a mistake?

"Sir, should we do anything? Are you certain he won't attack us?"

Law reluctantly left the thought alone as he focused on the speaker. One of the marines that he'd seen from earlier that had approached him. Law studied the man silently, intrigued. Why would he have any reason to attack him, let alone the other marines? The dark haired man had no reason to attack him, so why were most of the people gathered around him nervous and clinging to their weapons like he was a wild animal? It wasn't like they were the ones that Law wanted to injure. So then why...were they acting in the manner that they were?

"There's no need to worry."

Law turned slightly to look at the one who'd just spoken. The brown haired man almost seemed familiar to him, but what Law couldn't remember was where and when. The longer Law stared at the man, the more uncomfortable he became. It was almost as if…there was a reason that he should stay away from this man. But the answer of why eluded him, as did many other things. Was it because of this marine that was now approaching him? Law tensed up as if to run, but by then the marine was already before him with a hand outstretched. Law felt that now would be a good time for his mind to tell him why he was getting such a bad feeling from all of this, when the marine spoke.

"Nix Memoria."

A blissful and worry free sensation overtook the concern he had been feeling moments before. So much so that Law held no desire to do anything unless he was prompted. Law felt that he had no reason to be worried, and that alone should have been a warning. But it would not occur to Law until much later, when it was too late to do anything about it.

-x-

Vice admiral Fall let his hand drop back to his side as he peered at Law closely, before he gave a satisfied grunt. This time he was certain that his Devil Fruit power held sway completely over Trafalgar Law. He didn't see the spark in the pirate's eyes that he'd seen before, when he'd been interrupted using his Devil Fruit powers. Fall turned away. There was no will left in Law for the time being with his Devil Fruit holding the pirate's memories at bay. The vice admiral figured that because of the slip up from before that made the effects not last nearly as long, allowing Law to remember bits and pieces. Right now, since Fall was actively preventing Law's memories from going back to him, it would be a day at most before he would have to release the pirate from the powers again.

"What are we going to do with him, sir?"

Fall side glanced at the marine who's spoken, "For now he will go in a holding cell. I want headquarters contacted when I come back up on deck."

"Sir!"

The vice admiral barely glanced at the marine again as he called over to Law. "Follow me." Fall walked toward a cabin that linked to the lower decks, not bothering to look over his shoulder. He'd had ample time to test out his powers over the years, and knew their limits, as well as what they were capable of. He knew that the dark haired pirate would follow him. Law had no choice, really, with his memory all but gone.

"Vice admiral Fall? Why is he...like that?"

Fall heard that comment mixed in with the uneasy murmurs at the sight, and decided he may as well address them now. He'd forgotten most of his men hadn't seen the full extent of his powers. Fall knew what they would see. To them, Law must look like a lifeless marionette, waiting to be told where to go and what to do. It used to bother Fall in the beginning when he'd discovered that aspect of his powers, but now, it didn't so much.

"Don't feel bad for him. Don't forget that Trafalgar Law is a pirate. A wanted man. He is no longer a warlord being sheltered from being brought to justice." Fall opened the cabin door and stood aside as he ushered Law inside. "If I have to use my powers like this, I will do so in order to make the seas safer. Even if I have to take away someone's free will to make it come about, I will do so without hesitation." Fall didn't bother to see if the words had an effect or not, as he headed down a set of stairs to a holding cell. He nodded to the two guards outside the one of the cells, and one nodded in return as they opened the door. Fall noted that there was some unease at the sight of Law going into the cell without a word, and going so compliantly without even the slightest hint of resistance.

Fall turned away to return to above deck. He was going to make that call to headquarters immediately. He wanted to run an idea past them, and see if they would allow him to go after some pirates, including Straw Hat Luffy. It would be convenient if he could use his Devil Fruit powers on Law long enough for him to assist them. After all, the former warlord would then be doing what he had agreed to do in the first place.

Help take down other pirates.

Time was of the essence, and Fall could only hope that headquarters would agree with his proposition. Even now Fall knew that every time he used his powers on Law, the weaker they would become. And with repeated use of his powers, there was a higher chance that Law would be able to break free of the Devil Fruit power altogether. Especially since Fall was actively holding specific memories at bay. Perhaps he would have to loosen the control over Law sooner than he had anticipated, if he wanted to have full control later when it mattered.

-x-

If it hadn't been for Franky getting the Thousand Sunny out of range of the navy's gunfire, Luffy would have been still yelling himself hoarse at the ship that Law had disappeared on to. It didn't, however, prevent Luffy from being upset about what had just happened right before his eyes. And it was quite vexing that his own crew was trying to tell him to stop and wait before going after Law. That he needed to get his injury seen to, which happened to still be bleeding.

The Straw Hat captain would get his wound seen to, but only after he knew that Law would be all right. Luffy couldn't believe that Law had gone over to the marines so willingly. It meant that there had to be something wrong with Law, and more than just memory loss.

"I'm fine! I just need some meat." Luffy insisted as he avoided Chopper, his eyes still trained in the direction the marines had sailed off in with the Heart Pirate captain in tow. "We need to go after them!"

"Luffy! You need to let me look at that! Law stabbed you!" Chopper danced about Luffy on the deck, medical supplies in tow as he tried and failed to get his captain to hold still. "Eating meat won't make the wound heal over just like that!"

Luffy might have argued the point, but suddenly he found himself on the ground and looking up at his friends, who were leaning over him and watching him with varying degrees of worry. Luffy made a slight frown. "Huh? Why am I on the deck?" Luffy noticed Chopper bandaging the wound that Law had given him. How long had he been lying there? Hadn't he been up and about moments ago? He'd felt perfectly fine. He'd just been hungry.

Nami was nearby. "You fainted. Law did stab you and you were losing blood. You're lucky that Chopper and Jimbei packed some blood so we'd have your type in case you lost too much again sometime." Nami shook her head. "I would say I'm surprised you didn't fall down immediately, but considering the amount of damage you can take, it's not so surprising after all."

Luffy grinned up at Nami as Chopper finished up. "Well, I got some sleep, so now I just need meat and I'll be good."

Nami let out an exasperated breath. "None of this would have happened if you hadn't given Law his nodachi back. You should have never trusted him while he was in that state."

"But he could have hurt me more than he did." Luffy smiled brightly. "I think the Law that knows us was in there somewhere before he stabbed me." Luffy sat up and rested a hand over the bandages, his face going blank briefly. Then, he looked up and around at his friends. "It wasn't his fault." Luffy's expression became serious. "I'm gonna kick that vice admiral's ass, so Law can remember us." Luffy smiled. "Beating up that marine will help, won't it?"

There were a few exasperated groans all around the gathered crew, but no one outright argued against Luffy's logic. There was really no point in doing so anyway, as it appeared that Luffy had already made up his mind.

"Defeating the Devil Fruit user would help break whatever they have done to Law, provided they are rendered unconscious." Robin commented thoughtfully from where she was seated nearby.

"See? It'll help." Luffy said confidently. The straw hat captain accepted Zoro's outstretched hand and he was back on his feet in no time at all. As soon as Luffy knew he wasn't about to fall over again, he grinned at his crew mate. "Hey, Zoro, you saw it too, right?"

Zoro inclined his head. "Law didn't hit you with everything he had. He hesitated at the last moment."

"He must have been fighting against the vice admiral's Devil Fruit." Robin said vaguely.

Luffy turned to Nami. "See? Zoro saw it too." They could probably catch up to the marine ships easily, and then he could kick the marine's ass faster. It was rude to make someone forget about other people like the marine had done. Especially when they were friends. "Let's go after them now!"

Before the rest of the crew could ask Luffy how they were to get Law out of the marine's clutches, they were all distracted by something off the starboard side.

"What's that?" Chopper hurried over to take a look, and tilted his head. "I hear something from underneath the water!"

"Is it a sea monster I can eat?" Luffy asked hopefully, sidetracked from going to help Law as he joined his crew mate and leaned over the railing to take a look.

"It appears to be a ship." Robin said as she crossed the deck to take a look as well.

Luffy watched the ship surface, and let out a whoop as the sails dropped. "Awesome! It doesn't even need that coating!"

"Isn't that Law's ship?" Chopper asked curiously. "Those symbols look like the ones he wears on his clothes."

Nami turned to Luffy as she spotted Law's crew coming out onto the deck. "Luffy, we can't tell them what happened to their captain. They'll be devastated."

Luffy gave no indication that he heard his navigator as he waved his arms and called out. "Hey, look! I's the bear!"

Nami nearly groaned as Luffy immediately started to yammer away at the Heart Pirates. Great. Not only was Law suffering from memory loss, but now he was in the navy's hands. And to make matters worse, Law's crew had found them. There was no way to avoid the topic, as one of Law's crew called up to them.

"Where's our captain, Straw Hat?"

There were a number of ways to answer that question to lessen the blow of the news, but Luffy bypassed all that and got straight to the heart of the matter.

"Oh, he doesn't remember us right now and the navy took him away, but we're gonna go rescue him and make him remember us."

The Heart Pirates panicked immediately, and there was no reasoning with them until they calmed down enough to rationalize. Luffy was far too blunt to be the bearer of bad news, even if he had good intentions to right the problem as he saw fit. No one was particularly happy at that point in time, even if the missing Law felt otherwise while his crew and Luffy's squabbled about how best to retrieve him.

-x-

He was almost...happy.

It was a strange feeling to have, because he was fairly certain that he had no reason to be. But as usual, the 'why' evaded him as it had time and again. He hadn't even protested being led out of the cell briefly, nor going back into it, though the latter was likely because he was too exhausted to even care what he was doing at that point. And yet he was still strangely at ease, but even that did not last for much longer. It was a pity, because it would have been easier not to remember anything for a while longer.

And then reality decided to slap him hard in the face.

The haze and pleasant sensation of no worry or care in the world was abruptly gone, as if it had never been there in the first place. In its place was dread and annoyance and creeping horror. Dread at what had happened, and annoyance at Luffy and his crew. The horror was specifically for the embarrassment that had been forced upon him in the company of the Straw Hats.

Law gave his head a rough shake as if that would clear it, and looked around his immediate surroundings. It became apparent that he was not in a good position at all, and it was bad luck that he had woken up in what appeared to be a sea prism stone cell. Not the most pleasant way to wake up, but it was slightly better than waking up to Luffy's skeleton crew mate inquiring after his health.

Law sucked in a sharp breath. He remembered. He remembered everything that had happened after the vice admiral had attempted to use his Devil Fruit powers on him. Law promptly tried to forget about what had happened on Straw Hat's ship those few days he spent with them with a loss of memory.

He failed miserably.

Law rested his face in his hands and let out a low groan. He couldn't believe Straw Hat and his crew had taken advantage of his memory loss as they had. He wasn't sure if he could face them without wanting to end them all for making him make a fool of himself. Law would die before he admitted that he had enjoyed some of the idiocy. He would take it with him to the grave. Law let his face rest heavier against the palms of his hands as he flushed faintly in embarrassment at one thing in particular.

The singing.

The damn singing.

Law was never going to live down that singing, and the only thing that would make it worse would be if Luffy and his crew made mention of it to his crew. He'd never hear the end of it, and Law wasn't sure if being playfully teased was something he wanted to live with on his own ship. He was going to kill Straw Hat for this. Only, the dark haired pirate remembered that he had already attacked and wounded Luffy via the manipulation of his memory. Law groaned in irritation this time. Damn, he was unlikely to be allowed to forget that by being reminded of it by Straw Hat's crew. Luffy wouldn't hold it against him, but Law wasn't so sure about the rest of the crew.

And Luffy outright telling him that he was his friend. That Law wasn't ever going to be able to ignore or forget. There was no getting rid of Straw Hat if somewhere in Luffy's mind he'd adopted Law as a friend instead of just an ally. There was no escape. Why couldn't he just not remember what had happened during the stint with being affected by another's Devil Fruit? Why did he have to remember everything?

Friend...

Law wanted the ground to swallow him up so that he wouldn't have to face anyone at all. Especially not Luffy, because Law was fairly certain that already Straw Hat was trying to come and 'rescue' him. Law didn't want to be rescued. He'd rather escape and nonchalantly show on Straw Hat's ship. And then make a getaway to his own crew and ship. Anything else held the potential of too much embarrassment and Law was not prepared to be reminded of what he'd done.

But then, a brilliant idea came to mind. He would just play ignorant. That was perfectly acceptable. No one had to know that he remembered. So long as the Devil Fruit powers were only used on him. Law had no problem whatsoever keeping mum about what happened during his lack of memory of the Straw hats. The dark haired pirate let out a slow sigh.

Good.

Law no longer felt the need to fade away from the world. He was perfectly happy to play ignorant in order to protect himself from future discomfort and shame. So long as Luffy and the others didn't push to hard to get him to try and remember it, no one would ever have to know. It would be better that way. Law had an image to maintain, after all. He couldn't allow himself get swept up by Luffy and his crew's pace.

Their pace...

It was then that Law promptly recalled being forced into a pseudo group bath and that towel had been quite small and it had slipped down...

The guards outside the cell were startled by Law's vehement exclamation of death and dismemberment for that particular incident.

There was no way around it, Law was going to make someone pay. He didn't even have any dignity left in the face of the Straw Hats when he'd ended up drinking away with Zoro in the galley like he didn't have a care in the world, the towel barely staying on. Luffy had been laughing, and Law felt further shamed when he recalled Nami being on the other side of the door to the galley and yelling at them to cover up. And that had happened right before the singing had begun...

No, Law was most certainly going to do something he might regret when he ran into the Straw Hat crew again.

"Hey, he's awake."

"Should we get the vice admiral?"

"He said to get him only if he tried to get out."

Law lay down on the ground and faced away from the front of the cell. He was sure his face was still burning from the indignity of being dragged down to Luffy and his crew's level, but he hadn't meant to alert the guards. He hadn't meant to let the guards learn of his sudden recovery from Fall's Devil Fruit powers. Or rather, it seemed as if Fall had allowed them to leave him, which was suspicious on its own. It likely meant that Fall wanted to use the powers on him again, and Law didn't like to think what that meant. It had too many possibilities, and each idea that crossed Law's mind became more dismal and depressing.

The dark haired pirate let the hours slip by, but the more the time dragged on, the more suspicious he grew of the vice admiral's intentions. But even the idea of being manipulated by a marine was nothing compared to the embarrassing thoughts that came when his mind drifted back to what he'd done while on Luffy's ship. It was only when Law couldn't stand to think of what a fool he'd made of himself in front of the Straw Hats that Fall decided to show himself.

"You're awake. Good. That'll make this easier."

Law sat up immediately and gave himself ample room to be away from the cell door. He was weaponless, but he still had his powers, because none of the marines had bothered to handcuff him in sea stone. So if he could just get out of the cell, he might be able to evade them long enough to make a getaway. Unless they were out on the open sea, which would make things far more difficult. If that was the case, Law would be evading and tiring himself out for nothing. It was a shame that he'd left his Transponder snail in the cabin back on Straw Hat's ship. He might have been able to get into contact with his crew, and he could have made an underwater escape.

"There's no point in resisting now, Trafalgar Law. Not when you're cornered."

Law smirked at that. "You can think what you want. You may have used your Devil Fruit powers on me, but don't think things will continue to go smoothly for you." The dark haired pirate could sound as confident as he wanted, but the sight of the marines opening the cell door, and the vice admiral and many others standing to black his way made things seem much bleaker. But Law wasn't about to stay there and wait for them to take him somewhere or whatever it was that they had in mind.

Law darted forward without a moment's thought as the cell door swung open and the marines surged to meet him. Law weaved beneath the nearest marines and with luck managed to completely clear the cell and its draining effects.

"Room!"

The dark haired Heart Pirate captain made the room large enough to give himself ample room to clear the marines that had opened fire on him and twisted his fingers.

"Shambles." Law's smirk deepened as the marines fell back to avoid being shot, and made his way up the stairs nearby, swapping positions with the marines as he made his way up. He heard the vice admiral shouting something, but Law ignored it as he reached the upper deck of the ship. It became clear that the only other ships in view were other marine ships, and there was no land in sight.

Two strikes against his plans for escape, and the third came swiftly in the form of his own body as he stumbled. Why was he so tired out? Law dropped his room, breathing heavily. It was too hard to concentrate and keep it up without hurting himself more. Damn, he had hoped that he had recovered enough of his stamina to hold out longer, but apparently not. But why was he so...exhausted? It didn't make any sense.

"Tired, Trafalgar Law?"

Law kept his back to the railing. He didn't want the marines surrounding him from all sides. Law struggled to get his breathing back under control. "What did you do?" That was the only explanation. The vice admiral must have done something. Law knew that he hadn't been this worn out when he'd been on Luffy's ship.

Fall's look of disdain morphed into something like triumph. "I had some of my men take you out of the cell for a few hours and I convinced you to use your powers and sustain them until you exhausted yourself." The vice admiral walked across the deck. "I figured that if I released you from my Devil Fruit's influence that you might try and escape. So I made sure that it wouldn't be much of a problem to put you back in the cell should you make the attempt."

Law sucked in a breath of air and let it out. He didn't quite remember that, but when Fall mentioned it, Law could tell that yes, it did seem as if he had held on to his powers and used them for far too long. The dark haired pirate's eyes quickly swept the deck for potential routes to escape, but inwardly knew that it was going to be next to useless to keep on running. He wasn't going to be able to use his powers for very long if he called on them again. He was more liable to collapse in a worn out heap than get anything useful accomplished, but he wasn't going to make things that easy.

"Room."

Law wasn't going to let these marines dictate what he could and couldn't do. He would resist and try to find a way out while he was at it. At least, that was the plan, but Law hadn't accounted for several sea prism stone shackles to be shot at him, completely rendering his powers useless. Even with the draining effect and no access to his powers, Law struggled to prevent the marines from pinning him down. He had a really bad feeling about this, and felt that any kind of escape was better then what might happen to him in the immediate future.

The marines could have easily shot him and been done with him then and there. That they were merely restraining him now didn't bode well. And neither did the fact that the vice admiral had knelt in front of him as the sea stone was taken away.

Law gave the marine a defiant glare, but he wasn't going to waste words on the other man. There wasn't any point. But now he knew what the other's Devil Fruit powers were. Perhaps he'd be able to break through them this time around. It was obvious that the vice admiral had plans involving him with a loss of memory, and Law wasn't yet sure how that would be useful.

For his part, Fall hadn't said a word until he had his hand on Law's head. The vice admiral locked eyes with Law's defiant stare, and offered a very faint smile in return. "I told you it was useless to run before, didn't I?"

"Vice admiral Fall! Headquarters has agreed to your request of having Law assist against the pirates!"

Law's eyes widened a fraction as that sunk in, and immediately jerked his head to the side, despite the uselessness of the gesture. So that was it. He should have known that from the start. Should have guessed that immediately when they went after him instead of Straw Hat and his crew on the marines base days ago. It made perfect sense that the marines would try and turn him against his friends.

Friends...

Law was promptly horrified that that had crossed his mind instead of the word ally. The dark haired pirate blamed it on being worn out and surrounded by enemies that had very devious intentions to make him do something he had no desire to do. The last thought Law had was that he was going to never live it down if Luffy and his crew were the ones to save him from the mess he'd landed himself in, in addition to having to live with the memory of all the embarrassing things the Straw Hat crew had gotten him to do.

"Nix Memoria."

Law blinked. What was it that he was concerned about? It had been important, but what had it…been?

What was it?

"Remix memoria."

Law had a momentary lapse of all thought, but when he came to, he was sprawled on the deck of the ship and being looked down at by several perplexed marines. The dark haired man sat up slowly, a hand to his head. It felt like he had been knocked around roughly by some angry giant. That, or he'd drank too much the night before. Law wasn't sure which scenario he preferred. He just knew that he felt like shit.

"Trafalgar Law."

Law turned his head as glanced up. "…what?" The dark haired man looked around again, before he focused on the speaker again. "What happened?"

"Some pirates attacked the ship. You were knocked out." Fall indicated the side of the ship that was being repaired. "We are going to go after them."

Law frowned. That seemed…familiar to him. He nodded absently, "What were you thinking for a counter attack?" The dark haired man didn't notice several of the other marines' stunned expressions, as he was looking to Fall for confirmation. Law wouldn't have seen what the problem was anyway. It was a perfectly reasonable question.

"We're going to catch up to them within the day. You're going to use your powers to assist us." Fall said, his voice calm.

"And you're going to capture these pirates?" Law ventured after a moment, his hand closing around his nodachi's sheathe. Law missed the surprised gapes at the appearance of the weapon, when it hadn't been there before. It didn't matter. Law was focused on more important things. Like going after pirates that had managed to sneak in an attack and get clear away. That irritated him for some reason.

"Most of them, yes. Unless they resist."

Law saw that the vice admiral was pleased for some reason, but figured that it was because he was thinking about being the one to corner and capture the pirates. Law dismissed the tiny part of himself that made this seem like a very bad idea. The part of his mind that was telling him that this was wrong. That he shouldn't find any of this reassuring at all.

Wrong.

Danger.

Threat.

It was all there in his head screaming at him, but Law couldn't be bothered by such petty thoughts. After all, no one on this ship had attacked him, so there should be no problem. Yet the wrongness remained there in the back of his mind. But that was where it stayed. Because right now, all Law could do was look forward to the encounter with the pirates. It had been some time since he'd let loose against an opponent.

But first things first. He had something to attend to that was much more important than a looming battle against pirates. Law headed for a cabin without another word, not bothering to check with the marines if it was all right.

"Where are you going?"

Law answered the marine with a shrug, as if the question had an obvious answer. "I need to rest to regain my stamina. I appear to be lacking it at the moment. I won't be able to fight at full strength if I don't." Law closed the door and collapsed onto the nearest bed. He was exhausted, but it must have been from the previous encounter with the pirates. They must have put up quite a fight for him to be as worn out as he was. Law heard a crinkle in his pocket as he stretched. With a yawn, he absently drew a scrap of paper out to peer at it with tired eyes. Law immediately became more alert, despite his body's protest at not resting as he realized just what he held.

The scrap of paper was fluttering in his grasp.

A vivre card.

But whose was it, and why did he have it?


	6. Chapter 6

The sound of the ship around him was a low thrum. It was a relaxing, repetitive noise. It let the Heart Pirate know that at the very least the ship was in good condition and would get them to where they were trying to go to. The crew's condition, however, was up for debate considering the low moral that currently swept over them all these past several months.

It was hard to be positive when one hadn't heard from one's captain in a good long while. It didn't help that they hadn't been able to get a hold of very much news in the new world, travelling underwater as they had been doing as of late. It was starting to become clear that the whole crew needed fresh air, as the confines of the vessel certainly became crowded and stuffy despite attempts at air circulation. The obvious solution was to take baths more frequently, but even then there was only so much water that could be used on the ship, underwater as they were these past few weeks.

The complaints were steadily rising, and everyone's mood was liable to be set off at the tiniest slight. They definitely needed to surface sooner rather than later before they were at each other's throats and their captain returned to see them reduced to squabbling children.

Shachi had an involuntary shudder as he thought about the last time something like that had occurred. Law had taken care of all the arguing by chopping everyone up while utilizing his Devil Fruit powers and secluding them around the ship until they shut up and had clearer thoughts about what they were doing. It was too bad that Law had smirked the entire time, making the crew feel like he wasn't actually as annoyed at them as he was making it seem like he was. The thought was confirmed when Law archly stated the next day that they were all to get off the damn submarine. He'd ushered them off the ship and on the way to the nearest inn on the island they'd anchored near to clean up and shut the hell up, while Law tired to glean information from the locals about whatever it was that they had been searching for.

The red haired Heart Pirate idly tapped a foot as he couldn't help but smile at the memory. Law had set them loose on that particular island while they were still jumbled body parts, and the crew had just gone along with it like nothing was wrong with the horror show that they presented. It was interesting to see how quickly the locals gave them what they wanted, though they actually paid extra instead of less as if in apology for their appearance. That night in the hot springs had been quite entertaining, and even more so when they finally pieced each other together with the correct body parts with general laughter instead of complaints.

"Captain..." Shachi shook his head. Law had certainly appeared to be in a better mood when he found them being peaceful in the hot springs, although he did smack a few of them upside the head for trying to sneak a look at their female crewmates on the other side of some rocks. They had joined them in the new world and Law had yet to break some of the male members of the crew from the habit of ogling them as if they couldn't believe they were real. It was good that the female Heart Pirates took it in stride, thought they most certainly made their displeasure known when someone overstepped themselves and tried to catch a peek. Luckily the ship was loaded with medical supplies and equipment when things got out of hand. One of the female crew members was soon known to throw the sharpest item at her disposal and that led to some nasty but not overly life threatening wounds.

Shachi suspected that the incidents had lessened due to the fact that there had been no altercations the past month and a half, which was a good thing. Crewmates shouldn't fight among one another like that anyway. Though Shachi did wonder what the women thought of being underwater for weeks at a time. He supposed the only complaint so far had been the smell and the insistence that one of the two bathrooms on the ship be theirs and theirs alone.

No one had argued over that.

The Heart Pirate stared at nothing in particular as he came back to the present in the main control room of the ship. Shachi mused over the thought that perhaps he ought to take a bath. Mainly because some of the crew, men and women, had been nagging him about it, even though some of them had waited a good few days to take one. Shachi rolled his shoulders in a stretch as he sighed and took a test whiff of himself. And wrinkled his nose. Nope. His crew mates were right. He needed a bath badly. But he couldn't at the moment because he had been saddled into being in the control room. At the very least, Shachi did keep an eye on the submarines' controls should they come across some obstacle in their path as they traversed the sea. But for the most part, he didn't have to do anything but glance at the controls and screens to make sure that everything was running smoothly. He'd been told to keep an eye on things until Bepo and another crew mate returned to take control of the ship. The red haired Heart Pirate let out a soft sigh as he closed his eyes. In addition to a good bath, he really needed to get some sleep after all of the craziness that had happened over the past week.

"Not sleeping on the job are you?"

Shachi opened his eyes at the amused tone and found a mug hovering level with his eyes. Glancing to the side from behind his shaded glasses, Shachi saw that it was Penguin standing next to him. Not that he hadn't recognized the other's voice, though the thrum of the mechanics of the ship did muffle the other Heart Pirate's voice.

"I'm not sleeping. Just thinking." The red head said tartly as he accepted the offered mug from his fellow crew mate. "I am tired though." Shachi admitted as he took a sip from the mug. He immediately made a face as he inspected what he'd just drank. "This is alcohol. It's way too early for that." Shachi's tone was accusing as he turned in his seat with an affronted look on his face. "Why isn't it coffee?"

"We're out." Penguin said with a faint shrug. He was unbothered by the tone of his crew mate. "We haven't made landfall in over two weeks. We need to do a supply run." The Heart Pirate gave Shachi a wry smile. "And it would be good to make use of a town or city's inns. They tend to have better bathrooms than most ships."

"No kidding. I don't even want to know what the ship would look like after another two weeks underwater." Shachi shook his head as he drank out of the mug with a defeated sigh. "So now that we're down to alcohol and probably not a lot of water, are we fresh out of everything in the kitchen as well other than bread?" The red head asked, as an amused smile crossed his face.

"Yes, we're mainly running on carbs until we hit landfall." Penguin couldn't help but smile as well. "Good thing the captain isn't with us right now. I think he'd have a problem with all that bread that Jean Bart found on that island before we hit Zou."

"Law probably would have used his powers to transport all of us onto the nearest speck of land while he got rid of it." Shachi said, before his smile slipped and he sighed. "I hope the captain's going to be okay after all that."

"We all hope so. If only he would call and let us know." Penguin couldn't help but look over to the nearby table where the Heart Pirates had put Law's vivre card in a clear box.

"Sooner would be better." Shachi admitted, before he went through the rest of the mug of alcohol after shaking his head.

"Yes, sooner. We want to make sure there isn't a riot about B.O. on the ship again. It would be worse than last time because of our newer crewmates." Penguin said dryly. "If Law were here, he would probably find it in him to have enough energy to deal with us as he did before."

Shachi snorted before he cursed as the last sip of alcohol went up and out through his nose. He knew that most of the crew didn't mind time between baths if there wasn't anyone who was injured that needed to be operated on. Law was rather clear on that point, although if it was a sudden injury, then merely scrubbing up their arms and throwing clothes over what they were wearing would have to do. Otherwise their captain insisted on cleanliness when there wasn't as dire of a situation and there was time to prepare for surgeries. Those had been fewer as of late because they'd all been keeping out of trouble while Law was gone.

For the most part.

"You know what happened last time we got into fights over that, right? Well, that and the fact that we thought someone was rearranging belongings in all of the cabins." Penguin continued on, unaware of Shachi's thoughts as he reached out and retrieved the cup before the red head could carelessly toss it aside. Penguin waved the mug at his crewmate as if in emphasis. "See? You're in a bad mood already."

"I guess. We better hit landfall today before it gets worse. I think I got a few dirty looks when I came here." Shachi paused as he narrowed his eyes behind his glasses at Penguin. "Don't laugh. That was unintentional."

"Sure it was." Penguin said, straight faced, as he turned to set the mug aside on a nearby table.

Shachi was sure the other man was smiling, but was glad for the levity, as there hadn't been much of it as of late. The past few months had been incredibly stressful for all of the Heart Pirates, and that had included their captain. Not only had Law grown unusually withdraw while around the rest of the crew, but as soon as he had become a warlord, Law had been firm in his decision to go alone to Punk Hazard. And with orders for his crew to wait at Zou while he was gone.

"I still can't believe that the captain might have left without giving us that vivre card." Shachi admitted as he settled into his chair again.

"I think he had been planning on giving it to us all along, since he had it." Penguin ventured after a moment.

Shachi made some grunt of agreement as he leaned back in the chair. He knew that none of the Heart Pirates, himself included, had been particularly happy to be separated from their captain. They had, however, been somewhat appeased when Law had given them his vivre card.

"Why do you think that the captain didn't want us to give him a vivre card in return?" Penguin asked after a moment of silently inspecting Law's vivre card.

"What do you mean?" Shachi asked as he titled his head to glance over at his crewmate.

"You saw how reluctant Law was to take it, right? Why is that, do you think?" Penguin sat down in one of the other chairs. "He already had the other one for Zou, right?"

"Maybe he figured that having one pointing to Zou would be enough?" Shachi ventured. He wasn't entirely certain either way. But he and the rest of the crew had had to argue with Law in order to get their captain to take a vivre card linked to one of them. "Maybe we thought there might be a chance that our rendezvous would be somewhere other than Zou?"

"Maybe." Penguin's voice was distant, as if remembering his and the rest of the crew's parting from Law. It had been a tearful one, but their captain had been aloof as ever. However, Law had offered all of them a faint smirk and the quiet statement that he was leaving. The Surgeon of Death had then made a retreat, while the crew sailed away, still worried over the fact that they wouldn't see their captain for months. But at the very least, they had Law's vivre card, so they would at least it would keep them reassured of their captain's health. Penguin again looked at Law's vivre card, which was still smaller than he or the rest of the crew would have liked.

"Do you think we should have stayed by Zou and waited for the captain? We would have been able to resupply the ship at least one more time." Shachi said, when the silence had gone on too long for his liking.

"Maybe, but could you have stayed there, knowing what had happened?" Penguin asked in return.

Shachi looked away. He knew that his crewmate meant when they had received that paper about Doflamingo's supposed departure from the seven warlords of the sea, and their captain's alliance with the Straw Hat crew. It had been clear then that their captain was up to something, and it hurt that he hadn't bothered to contact his own crew.

"You're thinking about why he didn't have us come along?" Penguin closed his eyes as he stopped looking at the pathetically small vivre card.

Shachi nodded. He did wonder why, and he wasn't the only one.

After that news, and the news that Kidd had formed an alliance with two other supernovas, the Heart Pirates had pondered long and hard about what their captain was up to. Law hadn't mentioned to any of them the possibility of an alliance, even though they all assumed that it would happen at some point. It was the new world after all. Not having alliances was a sure fire way to get one's self and the whole crew killed for lack of preparation and extra allies for challenging opponents and new lands.

"Law never mentioned that he was going to be in danger of losing his life though." Shachi said after another long period of silence.

"No, he didn't." Penguin remembered that same day the news had been updated, and it had stated that Doflamingo stepping down had been a false report. That was when the unease sunk in for Penguin and the rest of the Heart Pirates. Only an hour later they all flew into a panic when Law's vivre card started to burn, until there was barely an inch of it left, and even then it continued to steadily burn. "But maybe that's why he left us behind. To protect us."

"The captain would do that, wouldn't he?" Shachi remembered the utter panic that had swept the ship as well. He and the rest of the Heart Pirates had wondered what in the world was happening to Law and who would dare to harm their captain. Shachi frowned at his crewmate. "Do you know how close we are to Dressrosa?"

"Far enough away that I doubt that the captain will still be there." Penguin said, sounding a little down. "But that's what Bepo and some of the others are checking out right now."

"Well, I don't know how long it will take to get there, but we all agreed we were going to go there and-"

"Shachi! Penguin! The captain called! He's on right now!" One of the female Heart Pirates tumbled into the room with several more people behind her, and she passed over the transponder snail to Penguin from where she'd fallen over.

Shachi set the snail down on a table as the room suddenly became overcrowded, a few of the others in the room assisting their female crewmate to her feet. Jean Bart remained outside the door, as the room was too small for him to fit in. Bepo had pressed himself in through the rest of his crewmates to press up between Shachi and Penguin, and the white furred Heart Pirate was the first to speak.

"Captain!"

_"Hello, Bepo."_ Law greeted, an edge of humor to his voice. _"I hope you haven't moved the ship too far away from Zou."_ The Heart Pirate captain sounded exhausted.

Questions began to spill out over Law's well being, and with so many voices speaking at once, no one could really make themselves clear, but it appeared as though Law got the gist of it, because the snail smirked.

_"I'll be perfectly fine with some rest. I was merely lucky that I decided to ally myself with Straw Hat-ya and his crew when I did."_

"Where are you captain?" Shachi asked. "We...moved away from Zou. We were headed toward Dressrosa when we saw your-"

_"Steer clear of Dressrosa. The marine presence there is heightened after all that has happened there."_ Law's voice was faint yet firm. _"I'm headed for a small island south of Zou. But be careful when you head there. There's a small naval base nearby."_ Law cursed under his breath, distracted by something. " _I need to go. Contact me when you're close."_

The crew all eagerly agreed, happy that Law, while not exactly sounding his best, was alive. The Heart Pirates talked over one another again in their good byes before the connection was cut.

"Well, I guess we need to change course, Bepo." Penguin said as he picked up the now slumbering snail. "And we'll want to continue to head out underwater to avoid any marines in the area before we meet up with the captain."

"Aye aye!"

The Heart Pirate crew's mood was vastly improved by the fact that Law's vivre card had stopped burning and they had gotten the call from their captain confirming the fact that he was likely wounded but all right. It was a good sign, even if they were still all exasperated with one another about the fact that not all of the crew was taking regular baths.

A few days later, however, after a brief pit stop at a small island to boost moral with new supplies and the liberal use of the inn's bathrooms, the Heart Pirates would soon be landed into a state of confusion after one statement from Luffy.

-x-

Penguin was having a very pleasant and wonderful dream about Boa Hancock before reality hit him in the face.

Literally.

The Heart Pirate let out a sharp gasp as a solid body collided with him and knocked him out of the hammock he had used for the night. Penguin hit the ground with an exhalation of air, his heart racing momentarily at the sudden sensation of falling. He was back in the cabin, and not in the presence of that alluring female warlord.

Shame, that.

"Penguin?"

The Heart Pirate grunted something on the ground before he rolled onto his side and sent a glare up in the speaker's direction. He didn't have his hat on yet, so the glare was noticed. A hand appeared in Penguin's vision.

"Ah, sorry about that. Shachi's been trying to figure out where you'd gotten to."

Penguin accepted his fellow crewmate's help to get back to his feet, though he shook his head as he steadied himself. "Watch where you're going next time."

"Right, right, sorry. It is kinda dark in here, you know." The frizzy haired crew mate said sheepishly.

"Penguin?"

The Heart Pirate had reached for his hat when the other voice spoke, and he peered over the hammock to see Jean Bart stooped in the door way. Penguin nodded to him as he slipped the hat on. "Good morning. Or is it afternoon now?"

"Try evening." Jean Bart stated, before he stepped out of the way to allow the other Heart Pirate to exit the cabin room. "We received another call, but it wasn't from Law."

"Who was it?" Penguin asked as he walked along the hall. They had last heard from their captain a few days previously. They'd been making good headway, so he wouldn't have been surprised if Law had called them. Even though he had told them to call when they were closer.

"We're not sure. It cut out before we could find out who it was exactly." Jean Bart stated as he followed along after Penguin. He seemed to sense the other pirate's train of thought as he added. "Shachi tried to call Law, but he won't answer. We're not sure why, but we assume its because he either doesn't have it with him or left it behind somewhere."

"He did say that he and the Straw Hats were going to infiltrate the marine base near the island we're to meet them at?" Penguin questioned. He figured that if there was something that their captain had heard about, he would be one to take advantage of said information, even if it landed him on a naval base.

"It is a possibility." Jean Bart hedged, as if he weren't sure what Law would do.

Penguin said nothing. He didn't blame Jean Bart for not thinking it likely that Law would do as such, since he had not been in Law's crew as long as himself and some of the others. But Penguin figured that after the incident at Rocky Point, Jean Bart would have a fairly decent idea of what Law was capable of. Penguin just hoped that their captain hadn't gotten himself into more trouble while he was still recovering from the wounds he's received on Dressrosa.

In the small mess room of the ship, Penguin found Shachi with the transponder snail and a scattering of some of the crew. The red haired Heart Pirate looked baffled.

"Did someone try to call again?" Jean Bart asked as Penguin passed by him into the room.

"Yeah, I think we can trace it back though and send a transmission to them." Shachi shrugged, though he looked a little troubled. "I wasn't sure if it might just be the marines though."

"May as well try and return the call. We are underwater for now, so the marines will have a hard time tracking us." Penguin said. He figured that it would be good to identify their mystery caller, in case it might on the off chance be their captain. Perhaps the signal was weak or the magnetic fields of the nearby islands were erratic due to bad weather or something like that, that had caused it to cut off the call.

Or maybe Penguin just wanted to hear from Law, like the rest of the crew did.

Shachi nodded as he traced the call back. Those that were in the room were surprised when they got a clear response this time, and it wasn't who they expected it to be.

At all.

_"Hello! This is Luffy, future pirate king!"_ The voice was all but yelling into the receiver on the other end.

_"Luffy, you have got to stop saying that when you pick up a call!"_ Someone in the background insisted, clearly exasperated with their captain. _"What if they are marines?"_

Shachi and Penguin exchanged amused looks with one another, before the latter spoke. "Where's our captain, Straw Hat?" Both Heart Pirates were not sure what to make of Straw Hat's crew whispering something before they cut the call out.

That was weird.

"Shachi! If we surface now, we'll be neat Straw Hat Luffy's ship." Someone called from out in the hall. "Do you want to do that?"

"Yes!" Shachi called back. "We need to find our captain, and they probably know where he is, if he isn't on their ship for whatever reason!"

"Right!"

Shachi and Penguin left the room, followed by the rest of the crew not bringing the ship to the surface, Jean Bart trailing at the back of the group.

"What do you think is going on?" Shachi muttered to Penguin as they waited for the ship to surface all the way.

"I'm not sure. But you'd think they'd tell us if the captain was hurt or something happened to him." Penguin appeared troubled by the abrupt end of the call with Straw Hat Luffy. It was strange, but then again, maybe the call hadn't been purposefully cut. Although it was likely the case, since they were so close to the other pirate ship.

But why?

Why would they cut communication instead of telling them where their captain was?

Penguin found it all very suspicious, and waited impatiently as the ship began to surface, the pressure changing in the cabin as there was less pressure on the ship now that it was almost all the way out of the water.

"Maybe Law isn't with them?" Shachi ventured after the submarine had fully surfaced as he and the frizzy haired Heart Pirate opened the door to the deck.

"Why wouldn't the captain be with them?" Bepo asked from where he emerged from the control room of the ship. He appeared worried at the thought.

"I don't know." Shachi responded honestly, as he stepped out onto the deck and the water that was still there from surfacing. "But we're going to find out."

The Heart Pirates piled out onto the deck of their ship and gathered on the side that faced Straw Hat Luffy's ship, which was only yards away and within shouting distance. It didn't take long for the other pirate crew to realize that there was another ship suddenly next to theirs, and the Heart Pirates all saw Luffy waving his arms and shouting at them.

"Hey, look, it's the bear!"

"Is he talking about me?" Bepo asked.

"Who else is a bear here?" Shachi demanded of his furred crew mate.

"Sorry." Bepo said as his head lowered and his ears dropped.

"Why is he so meek?" One of the female crewmates asked.

"Yeah, Bepo, don't make me feel bad about that time that you beat me when we sparred." Another crewmate said as he patted Bepo's shoulder.

Penguin ignored both of the other Heart Pirates as he got to the main problem at hand. "Where's our captain, Straw Hat?" There were a number of ways to answer that question, truth or lie or partial truth, but Penguin didn't expect the blunt response he and the rest of the Heart Pirates received.

"Oh, he doesn't remember us right now and the navy took him away, but we're gonna go rescue him and make him remember us." Luffy said this as if it weren't a big deal at all.

The Heart pirates were completely speechless, before someone among them spoke up in outrage, and others quickly followed suit at the very idea of Law forgetting anyone.

"What?"

"What marines?"

"The captain would never allow the navy to do that!"

"How could the navy capture him?"

"What happened?"

"Why wouldn't he remember you guys after Dressrosa?"

"Didn't the captain make an alliance with you?'

The general feeling among the Heart Pirates became very hostile, before Shachi and Penguin drew everyone in a group together on the deck to have a brief discussion as they were watched by the Straw Hats.

"We need to find out what happened and where Law is. Straw Hat Luffy and his crew were the last ones to see him." Penguin said firmly. "We shouldn't get into a fight over this without hearing them out."

"They could have been attacked." Shachi added, though he didn't sound very certain about that. But it seemed very unlikely that Luffy or his crew would have harmed Law, since they'd taken him away from Dressrosa, where he _had_ been hurt. "And the captain had been injured before that, remember?"

The crew broke out into an argument after that, about particulars involving Straw Hat's credibility about Law's apparent memory loss, and whether they were better off just using the vivre card to go locate their captain on their own. It didn't seem like anything was going to get solved until Penguin cut in over everyone else as the ideas of what to do became outlandish.

"The longer we delay, the longer it'll take to find the captain." Penguin said in a reasonable tone. "We need to go and discuss things with the Straw Hats. Then we can make a decision about what to do after that." Penguin shook his head at one of his crewmates to prevent them from arguing. "No, we're not going to act until after that. We do have the captain's vivre card, but going in blind would be dangerous if we don't know the whole story. Right?"

There was murmured agreement among the gathered pirates, even if there was still some reluctance.

"Straw Hat! We want to talk to you! Can two of us go over there so we don't have to shout at each other?" Shachi called over to the other ship, as soon as he'd received a nod from Penguin.

"Sure! Bring over whoever you want! We can have dinner too!" Luffy shouted back cheerfully.

Penguin wondered about the fact that the blond haired cook, black leg or whatever he was called, immediately whacked the straw hat wearing captain over the head. Interesting. And Luffy didn't even seem to mind as he turned to grin excitedly at his crewmate, and started talking rapidly, though Penguin couldn't hear from there what it was about. He gave a shrug in response to Shachi's confused expression at the exchange. At least they had gotten the okay to have a civil conversation. Not that Luffy appeared to realize that they were unhappy that their captain was missing on his watch.

The Straw Hats were definitely a weird bunch.

Though the same could be said for them too, Penguin supposed, considering the things that he and the rest of the Heart Pirates got up to. Penguin made a mental note then and there to have one of the crew remove Law's wanted poster from the small mess room in the ship. They'd put it there after about a month of no word or sign of their captain when he'd gone to Punk Hazard. Penguin had a feeling that Law might be embarrassed over the fact that the crew would regularly mope around and give the poster looks that clearly showed their depression at their captain being gone for so long from them. And the fact that they would hold one sided conversations with the poster made Penguin feel that Law would diagnose them with something. Not that they weren't aware that it was not a good sign that they would speak to a poster as if there captain was really there.

Bepo, for one, couldn't bear to look at it, and could be found regularly moping in his own way in his quarters of the ship. Though he did seem to feel a little bit better when other members of the crew would use him as a pillow, though it was clear the white furred Heart Pirate would hope to find Law there one of the times he woke up. It was too bad that Law wasn't with the Straw Hats right now. It would have cheered Bepo up, as well as the rest of the crew, immensely. At least they had hear from their captain days ago, and that had helped a lot to quell much of their earlier depression.

"Hey, are you coming over or what?"

Penguin exchanged glances with Shachi at Luffy's shout, before he gave a small nod. The two of them would be enough to talk to the Straw Hats. No use in bringing over more people than was necessary to obtain the information that they needed to know.

Penguin and Shachi were helped aboard Straw Hat Luffy's ship, and the former felt that they were going to get to the bottom of things one way or another. It seemed very far fetched to him right now that Law would lose his memory in any way, shape, or form when their captain had sounded fine days before. Or as fine as he could be after he'd been injured on Dressrosa.

The two Heart Pirates followed after the Straw Hats to wherever it was they were going to discuss things. As the door shut behind them, the two pirates hoped that the Straw Hats weren't the cause of whatever had happened to Law. Penguin knew that he, Shachi and the rest of their crew wouldn't take too kindly to people who would put their captain in danger.

The truth, however, was far stranger than any of the Heart Pirates could have imagined.


	7. Chapter 7

Law held the vivre card he had found between forefinger and thumb as he contemplated the scrap of paper silently. He had been pondering about where he may have come across such a thing, and he couldn't recall it. That was odd, because something as important as vivre card shouldn't be dismissed in such a way. It was certainly irritating to not have at least an inkling as to where it had come from. And Law found that the way that it was trying to go down and to the right interesting.

Was the person it was tied to travelling underwater? It was a possibility, since a coated ship wasn't completely out of the question.

The dark haired man frowned as he set the vivre card onto the palm of his other hand and watched it start to slowly flutter in the direction that it wanted to go. It was still pointed down a little, which meant that the person was still beneath the waves of the sea. Which Law had noticed had become a bit rougher as the weather began to turn over into something unpleasant.

The way that the ship had begun to sway more violently was another clue, as were the curses of the marines outside the cabin he was in. It all led Law to believe that they had run into a storm of sorts. Unsurprising, really, since this was the New World. Freak storms were to be expected.

Law's gaze went back to the vivre card as he tired to find an explanation for why he had it. It wasn't connected to any marines, unless one had taken an unexpected dip into the sea, which was unlikely. That left Law to inspect the piece of paper more closely, and the dark haired man found miniscule writing on one corner of the card that he hadn't noticed before.

_'H.P. -S'_

Law realized that a message had been scrawled as well directly beneath those letters.

_'please don't be too reckless, captain.'_

While Law may not have had a clue who the vivre card belonged to, he figured that it likely belonged to a pirate. Why else would Law have it? He very much doubted that any marine had given it to him. He didn't know of any captains on the ship he was currently on, as Fall was a vice admiral. That left law coming across the vivre card while he'd been on Straw Hat's ship and had attacked Straw Hat Luffy himself. Though Law did not recall ever picking up or otherwise acquiring the vivre card. But he didn't have any other explanation of its appearance in one of his pockets.

Law thought a moment longer before he rose from the bed, shouldered his nodachi, and exited the cabin. Whatever the origin of the vivre card, Law would at least be able to point the marines in the right direction. Perhaps it would get them to their destination sooner so that he did not have to put up with all the complaints that had been voiced outside his cabin by passing marines. The dark haired man made his way down the narrow hall of the ship and narrowly avoided being knocked over by some of the marines who weren't quite used to the rough waves that battered the ship.

"I thought you said you were going to get some rest." A marine said as he used the nearest door to him to help steady him.

"Where is the navigator of the ship?" Law gave the marine that had spoken an unimpressed look, and held up the vivre card. "I think they will find this useful."

The marine gawked at what Law held, before he appeared to recover himself and pointed to a cabin a few doors down. "They're in there with the vice admiral."

Law went past the marine silently as he went to the indicated cabin. He didn't even look back at the sound of the marine losing his footing as he entered the cabin without bothering to knock. He was going to hand the vivre card over so that he wouldn't have to ponder its origins anymore. Law wanted to be able to take a rest unburdened by such things, especially if he was expected to help assist with the capture of the pirates they were currently in pursuit of.

Fall had apparently been discussing something with the other man in the room. Both of them looked up when Law entered unannounced, but neither said anything of the intrusion, so the dark haired man beat them to it.

"Are you having trouble locating those pirates?" Law questioned, a hint of a smile across his features.

"Perhaps. Why?" Fall said after a moment.

Law merely held up the vivre card, though he felt a moment of doubt and disquiet in his decision when the sight of the fluttering paper made Fall smile. It struck Law as odd that the other man had smiled, when he normally didn't. It led Law to wonder why he thought he had seen the vice admiral smile before. He hadn't, had he? Law wasn't quite sure, but he handed the vivre card to Fall's waiting hand.

"I was just telling our navigator that we seem to have gone off track." Fall said as he handed the vivre card to the other man. "This should get us back on course in no time." The vice admiral nodded. "Have you had enough rest, or do you need more?"

"I need some more if you expect me to use my Devil Fruit powers for a prolonged period of time." Law said in return.

Fall waved him off. "Then go do so."

As Law left the room, he heard the new bearings being made based on the vivre card. The dark haired man even heard as he closed the door that the time to reach the pirates was cut from days to mere hours. And that was even factoring in the storm that they were currently headed through.

Law felt that he should have been pleased, but there was a growing sense of unease in that place in his mind where all the doubt began to linger, and grow with every passing moment. By the time Law was back in the cabin and resting on the bed, he had no idea that there were more people trying to locate him, and the reveal of the vivre card in his possession really had done nothing but usher the inevitable in sooner.

Had Law been in his right mind, he would have been horrified at the proceedings that had just taken place on the navy ship. But since he wasn't, Law merely had a good rest, although that rest was occasionally interrupted by nightmares, though the dark haired man couldn't grasp what they were about. Only that it was something he should have remembered.

Only...he seemed to have forgotten it.

And Law felt that it was something important.

-x-

Having dinner with the Straw Hat crew was a noisy affair, and Shachi was honestly surprised that he and Penguin were getting any answers out of the other pirates for that. Shachi wasn't sure what to make of the whole situation, but he wasn't much surprised at the fact that Law had decided to make a detour to go after something on a marine base. But that led to other questions that didn't really have any answers either.

"But why would Law need whatever it was he was after before meeting up with us?" Penguin asked after a moment of digesting the information they'd just been given.

Shachi felt that his fellow crewmate had a fair question, even if no one had a real good answer to it. The red haired Heart Pirate ate some of the food that was on a plate before him, even if he wasn't really hungry. He was more concerned about the fact that Law was potentially in danger, in addition to having his memories wiped from his mind. "Why wouldn't he let any of you know what it was?" Shachi asked as he looked across the table at whom he believed was one of the saner members of Straw Hat's crew.

Robin.

At least, that was what Shahi felt, based on what he knew of Nico Robin from rumors, and just from how the conversation all of them were currently engaged in. Well, most of them, anyway. The swordsman, Zoro, was busily drinking whatever alcoholic drink was at hand while Brook was fiddling with an instrument. Shachi turned his attention to Robin when the long haired woman spoke up after a moment's thought.

"He insisted that it was something important but wouldn't say anything more until we retrieved it. He didn't seem to believe that that information was necessary, if on the off chance we were unable to acquire it." Robin commented, looking thoughtful. "Perhaps it was a new weapon of some kind that the navy developed." A pause. "Hopefully no one had been injured by it if that was the case."

"Don't say stuff like that!" Usopp said from where he was seated. "I already have my leg to worry about. I don't want to worry about the navy having a new weapon!"

Sanji passed by with some empty plates and slapped the sniper's leg above the bandages. "You're fine. It wasn't that big of a wound. You'll be fine in no time at all."

"Says the person who can kick through solid objects."

Penguin had watched the exchange, before he gave a minute shake of his head and turned to Robin. "If it was a weapon, the navy wouldn't have been careless enough to disclose the information until they were ready."

"We won't know until we can ask Law ourselves." Nami said, before Robin could reply. "And we'll see if he thinks that it was worth what has happened so far, especially to himself."

"Do you think he would have been fine if he ate some meat?" Luffy asked from where he was steadily devouring any food within reach even from his crew's plates. Especially if they didn't defend it carefully enough.

Usopp had, in fact, booby trapped some of the food with hot pepper should Luffy try and take it.

Shachi felt that the conversation had come to a dead end, because they were still uncertain as to what Law had had in mind, and that his captain had kept quiet about it for whatever reason. Shachi still couldn't believe Luffy's insistence that that Law couldn't remember any of them when they'd first entered the galley. Not even when the rest of Luffy's crew had backed him up and said that it was a marine's Devil Fruit that was responsible for Law's condition. It was hard to fathom that Law would have allowed himself to be attacked by a marine in the first place. And then actually let them to get close enough to use Devil Fruit powers on him. It seemed too careless for Law to have actually done, even if it was true.

They all might have continued to talk awhile longer, though whether it would have been informative or not was interrupted by Franky calling out from outside the cabin. The shipwright had been keeping watch while everyone else discussed things together.

"Marines are headed our way! There are two more ships his time around!"

-x-

Law had his orders and he knew exactly what he had to do. It would be a simple thing for him to utilize his powers in order to cripple the pirate ships that they were zeroing in on. What might become a problem would be the retaliation from the pirates that might distract him from his tasks.

"You know what you are to do?"

The dark haired man shouldered his nodachi and cast a glance over his shoulder to the marine that had spoken, before he nodded. Law didn't feel the need to say anything because for some reason, he found the other man...disquieting, for whatever reason. But Law couldn't place why Fall made him uneasy. He just did. Therefore, Law would not think about it because it was not something that was important right now. Finding a way to incapacitate the pirates was. He could think about the uneasy feeling he got around the vice admiral another time.

Fall appeared to be appeased despite the lack of response as he moved away. It was likely because Law had provided the vivre card to one of the pirate ships that he didn't know how he'd come across it. But why else would the dark haired man have had it if not by obtaining it from a pirate in a previous fight?

Law turned his eyes to the two pirate ships in the distance as the vice admiral behind him began to shout orders to the other marines milling about on deck. Law wondered why there was so much fuss over these pirates. It wasn't like there were a lot more of them that needed to be dealt with at some point or another. What made these pirates so special that they needed to be taken care of sooner rather than later? The dark haired man tapped his fingers impatiently against the sheathe of his blade as the navy ships drew closer and closer until they were strategically positioned. Law moved into action as soon as he gaged that he was close enough to use his Devil Fruit powers effectively.

"Room."

As the marines began to open fire on the two pirate ships, Law began to warp himself closer and closer to his chosen target. Law appeared in place of a barrel on the navy ship nearest to the larger of the two pirate ships. The dark haired man drew his blade, and, maintaining his room, swung the blade through the air as if to cut the mast of the ship. That would certainly stop the pirates from fleeing this time.

The slash, however, was halted by a green haired swordsman on the deck.

Law wasn't surprised that the first attack he had launched had little effect. It wouldn't be any fun if this was over too fast. Law was about to swing his nodachi again when he heard shouting and glanced to the left of the swordsman. There were two people on the deck that were the source of the sound, but Law was so focused on what he was doing that he initially dismissed them as he raised his nodachi again and launched an attack. This time, it hit, as the swordsman wasn't able to get there in time to stop it. Law managed to break up the deck a bit with the attack. Pleased that he had made a hit, Law was about to do so again, when he paused briefly mid attack as the same two people shouted at him again.

"Captain!"

"Law! Stop it! What are you doing?"

"Those are marines!"

Law hesitated swinging his blade as he looked at the people shouting at him more closely. They had said his name, and the two men on the deck of Straw Hat Luffy's ship appeared to have insignias on their outfits that looked exactly like his.

Exactly...like his.

Wait.

Law stayed in place as he stared at the other people and wondered if he should not attack them if they were on his side. It just didn't seem right to attack them. Why would he hurt them? Weren't they...didn't they mean something to him? The dark haired man just couldn't recall how.

Why couldn't he remember?

Law faltered on the deck as canon fire hit the marine ship he was on, and automatically raised his blade to slice through an incoming canon. The thought that Law had had before was now gone, and all the pirates were targets. All of them. Why did he even think that he could treat any of them differently? It was obviously a ploy to dress with similar marks as he himself wore. To distract him. To get him to lower his guard.

That was all. There was no need to worry any further. Law had things under control again.

The dark haired man used the next several minutes to break up the crew from one another on the deck of the closest pirate ship, injuring some of them in the process. Though it was mainly due to the shrapnel of the ship than his blade that had caused the wounds. And the pirates had been outside of his room. The next several moments were a confused mess, as suddenly Law had to focus on the green haired swordsman. The pirate was suddenly before him and had wasted no time in locking blades with his nodachi. Law merely warped elsewhere out of the way and saw that the two pirate ships were suddenly just gone.

How had that happened?

How had they managed to escape?

Hadn't he caused enough damage to cripple the ships?

Law turned and saw that while the pirates had escaped with their ships, the attack hadn't been for nothing. There had been six pirates that had been captured, the green haired swordsman among them, and...

Law stumbled again, though this time it was because Straw Hat Luffy had sideswiped the vice admiral on another ship. Law raised his hand and twisted it.

"Shambles."

Fall and Luffy were suddenly on the same deck as Law, and surrounded by a whole lot more marines. There was going to be no escape for Straw Hat unless he took all of them out. Much to Law's surprise, Luffy didn't even seem to care that he was surrounded as he shouted at him instead.

"Law!"

The dark haired man didn't automatically react to Luffy's call, or the fact that being called his name by the pirate seemed...wrong. As if he was used to being called something else by Straw Hat. But even as the dark haired man pondered things in his confusion, Straw Hat was distracted by Law for some reason or another, and it gave the marines time to shoot him with sea stone and miraculously the shot shackles connected and wrapped around Luffy, limiting his movements as well as his use of his Devil Fruit power.

"Law!"

The dark haired man sucked in a sharp breath as Luffy threw himself at Fall, and briefly touched the vice admiral with the shackles.

It was enough to break the control Fall had over Law's memories.

Horror spread through Law as he realized with a jolt what he had been doing. Shachi...Penguin...were they all right? Had they been hurt? He'd seen one of them on this ship along with Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji. What was going to happen to them? Among that horror was a bit of annoyance. If Luffy knew his name why didn't he just call him that instead of the garbled version of 'Trafalgar?'

That hesitation was all that was needed for Fall to get close to the Surgeon of Death to hit him with his Devil Fruit powers again.

Law desperately attempted to fight back against the powers but he was unsuccessful as he was beaten down into submission. Suddenly, the dark haired man felt that he had to wait to be told what to do. That he wasn't to do anything until he was told to do so. And he wasn't to take anything the pirates said to him seriously.

"Hey! What are you doing? Snap out of it!"

Law stared blankly at Straw Hat Luffy, wondering what the pirate was talking about. There was nothing for him to snap out of, yet there was a lingering speck of doubt that remained as Straw Hat was forcefully dragged off to be taken to the lower deck with the other pirates who had been captured. But Law couldn't place the source of that doubt, and wasn't given time to.

"Trafalgar Law, come with me."

The dark haired man followed along after Fall as they returned to the other man's ship, making use of Law's Devil Fruit powers. Law made no comment of why Fall had him go into a cell like a criminal as soon as they were in the lower level of the ship. At least until Law was locked in. There was definitely something fishy about all of this...but what?

"Thank you for your help. It has been most useful." Fall's voice was snide as he walked away. "Depending on how everything turns out, perhaps you'll assist us again. It would be very convenient to capture those pirates that have managed to escape."

Law heard the door to the upper deck close, before all of his memories rushed back to him as Fall released him from his powers. The weight of everything that had happened, and what might happen, crashed down over Law. The dark haired Heart Pirate clutched his nodachi close, his mind swirling between horror and fury.

What had he done?


	8. Chapter 8

Law had enough time to think things over with the time spent in that cell. And the dark haired Heart Pirate captain had been trying his damndest to get out of the cell since thinking things through despite it being made of sea stone. Because he had to get out. He had to get to his crew, and to Straw Hat and the others, before Fall and the other marines took them too close to headquarters.

The dark haired pirate tried to call on his powers, but due to the sea stone, all his efforts were for naught. And it frustrated Law that he was unable to do anything to help his crewmates. That he'd attacked them even and had been unaware of the time that they were not his enemies. Law grit his teeth as he stared unseeingly past the bars of the cell. And he had helped the vice admiral catch them without a second's hesitation because he had lost his damn mind.

Literally.

With a low growl, Law tried in vain to make a hole. Any kind of hole, in the side of the ship not lined with sea stone. And found out, as soon as his hand hit the wall of the ship, that it, too, had sea stone in it. Law grimaced as he collapsed to the ground as the worn out feeling washed over him.

He couldn't get out.

Law couldn't get out even though he knew that there were at least two ships headed in the direction of navy headquarters, and he was likely all alone on this particular ship. And Law was uncertain as to when and where Fall may use his Devil Fruit powers on him again. It frustrated Law to no end that he had nothing that he could do at that point in time to make things better.

Nothing.

Law was not used to being unable to do anything to get himself out of a predicament. There was always something that he could use to his advantage to get the one up over his enemies. But right now, on that marine ship, Law had nothing.

No allies.

No access to his powers.

And while he still had Kikoku with him, he couldn't even sure his nodachi could aid him in his escape. Law gave his head a brief shake before he used his sheathed blade to help him in standing up as he stared at the cell bars. He had to do something.

Anything.

So the dark haired pirate drew his nodachi and tired in vain to free himself, even though the cell bars did not yield under his strikes. But each one made Law feel a little better; a little more confident. That even if he was trapped he still had the opportunity to fight back should some marines come in to the cell and try to corral him in any way.

Most unfortunately, Law ended up wearing himself out further trying to get free of the cell. At least he had not bothered with his powers, but it was still a foolish thing to do when he had no idea when the marines or Fall would return. The Heart Pirate captain settled on the ground and propped his now sheathed notachi up over one shoulder as he eyed the direction the marines had left. They would come from that direction, and he would be ready when that time came.

Unfortunately, Law had worn himself out more than he had thought, because he had unwillingly drifted off.

It was a mistake.

One that he would regret the next time he was sound in his mind.

Law was rudely awoken in the middle of the night by several marines converging on him. Still half asleep and alarmed at what was going on, the dark haired pirate had no time to react to the fact that Fall was suddenly there and leering unpleasantly at him.

"It's been decided that you will assist in making sure that the other pirates that we have captured will not make an escape attempt from ne of our bases while we search for those that got away." The vice admiral gave no outward acknowledgment of Law's hand tightening around the hilt of his nodachi. "We will briefly hold them on a heavily fortified naval base, while the decision is made for who will be shipped off to Impel Down and who will be taken directly to be executed."

Law didn't even bother to say anything but attempted to fight and get away to prevent himself from being struck by Fall's powers again. The dark haired pirate's own Devil Fruit powers flared up in response to the vice admiral taking a step closer to him, but it was too late.

Fall had already used his powers.

However, Law felt that, even as his memories began to slip away from him again, that he had to stay away from the man that was before him. He had to get away before he completely lost his sense of self and became that mindless puppet again that had attacked those pirates. Pirates that Law couldn't help but think were familiar to him in some way. And at the least, he had a vague sense of Straw Hat and his crew. Because they had found him the last time that this marine before him had done something to him. Found him and had claimed friendship along with knowing who he was. Had only shown outward aggression when he himself had lashed out for some unexpected reason. But they didn't appear to mean him any harm. Therefore, Law felt that he needed to find them.

Wherever they were.

Law started to back away, and out of pure reflex, tapped into his Devil Fruit powers, and took himself and his nodachi up to the deck. The dark haired man held on to the blade tightly. Yes. It was his weapon, and despite the fact that his mind was scattered, and perhaps more so than the last time, he still had the urgeny to get away from this ship as fast as he possibly could.

Enemies.

He was surrounded by enemies.

Law knew he had to leave.

And much to his luck, he was able to do just that, because the ship had anchored. Law heard the vice admiral and some other marines shouting, and hastily made his escape from ship to land. He was careful to avoid the water, because he knew, somehow, that that would prevent whatever it was that he was doing. Law made it into the forest and decided to continue to run blindly until he reached the other side of the island, as if it would somehow help.

He wasn't sure how it would help; he just somehow knew that it would.

Soon enough, the shouts of the marines vanished to be replaced with the sound of wildlife. Law relaxed into a brisk walk, but kept his senses alert should that marine come out of nowhere. The longer Law walked, the tighter his wrapped his hand around the sheathe of his nodachi. He sensed something, or someone now, but Law couldn't help but feel that it was not the marines that likely still pursued him.

It was someone else.

Someone more dangerous.

Law did not even get to the shore like he though he would, because quite suddenly, there was something whipping thorough the air and slicing up the forest. It was a no brainer to drop to the grassy ground, as Law had no desire to be sliced clean in half like the trees. But before the dark haired man could think his next move through, there was the unsettling sound of someone rasping for breath, and then a satisfied yet slightly breathless laugh. Law started to rise at the sudden sound overhead, startled that he had missed just how close the other person had been. But it was for nothing, because just as he got to his feet was when Law was unceremoniously and roughly cuffed upside the head. Like the person who had struck him had just barely been holding themselves back. The dark haired man hit the ground in an instant, all strength gone from his limbs as the strike sent him spiraling into unconsciousness.

And then there was a voice.

An oddly familiar voice.

"Damn brat..." The voice wheezed. "What are you doing here?"

Law couldn't reach the memories of that voice, but he did settle on a name, and the name alone was enough to make him chilled to the bone for a reason he could not place.

Doflamingo.

-x-

Luffy made one last ditch effort to smash the walls of the cell that he had all but been wrangled into.

Nothing happened.

So Luffy tried again before he let out a huff and puffed up his cheeks at the still intact wall. He had been whaling on the walls for what seemed like hours, and the Straw Hat captain wasn't sure why the walls hadn't yet yielded.

Maybe it was the sea stone.

The marines had made sure that he'd been shackled with the sea stone as well, but Luffy merely went at the wall with a single minded determination that it didn't matter. That no matter how much the shackles drained him of his energy, he should have at the very least been able to put a hole in the wall.

Luffy had managed it inside the ship before he'd been dragged off of it and into another cell on some other island. The Straw Hat captain drew his foot back for another strike when he paused at the sound of a commotion just outside the cell.

"Hurry up and get him in there!"

"Dammit! Why is most of Straw Hat's crew so damn powerful?"

"Did you hear? Trafalgar Law escaped!"

"What?"

Luffy was cheered to hear this, because it made him glad that another of his friends had escaped. And Luffy knew that since their crews were still in an alliance, that the Heart pirate captain most certainly would figure out some way to come and assist them. Even if Law didn't want to admit that he would, Luffy was certain that he would.

"I heard the vice admiral got him with his Devil Fruit powers."

"And he still escaped?"

"Yeah, that's what I heard."

Luffy wasn't sure what happened, but suddenly he had another person thrown onto him and he was toppled over and onto the ground. But the black haired teen wasn't too annoyed when he saw who it was.

"Hey, Zoro." Luffy greeted as his crewmate rolled to one side and sat up.

The green haired swordsman couldn't help but crack a smile in return at his cheerful captain. Even though they were in a troublesome predicament it just figured that it would have done nothing to dampen Luffy's mood.

-x-

Things had gone downhill ever since he had been forced to flee from Dressrosa with every manner of marines at his heels, Sengoku and Tsuru included. He'd even wasted his energy on a string clone and that had nearly caused him to black out enough as it was. It was a damn miracle he'd even had the strength to make it off of Dressrosa and to this island without falling unconscious out of the sky from the effort.

But he would live.

He'd get them for this.

Straw Hat and Law.

Both of them would pay for what they had done.

Doflamingo grimaced yet refused to rest. Not only was he grievously wounded, internally, for the most part, and not only was he not even able to heal, but Trafalgar Law himself had to come waltzing into his presence like he had no care in the world. Doflamingo would have torn the brat to pieces if he hadn't realized that Law seemed to have a lost, confused look on his face like he didn't know what was going on. The former warlord had immediately decided to tear up the forest to see what happened, and was further convinced that something was going on when Law had a puzzled expression as he dropped down.

It was almost as if Law had no idea who it was that was attacking him.

Doflamingo made sure to get up close and personal to strike the little bastard, and that was when he knew something had to be going on, because Law had not gotten out of the way. He'd taken the hit instead and had fallen limp to the ground without a sound. Doflamingo walked unsteadily over to the dark haired pirate and nudged him in the side with a foot.

No response.

Law was out cold.

Doflamingo snorted at the sight. As much as he wanted to finish Law off then and there, it would be pointless to do so without Law knowing that it was him that would end his miserable life. The blond haired pirate looked Law over and decided that at the very least the other was not walking around and wearing that damn jacket that had had 'Corazon' across the back of it. Doflamingo knew that he should have known better than to think that Law would ever come back to the Family. He certainly seemed to have twisted himself into knots over finishing what Corazon had started and all that.

The blond's gaze fell back on Law and decided if nothing else he might get amusement out of making eye contact with Law without his glasses on. That would certainly tell him whether or not Law was with it. With a grin, Doflamingo flicked a few fingers at Law, as he had enough left in him to expend a little effort on his Devil Fruit powers. He might as well not take any chances, just in case Law was playing dumb in some roundabout way to finish trying to kill him. Doflamingo's abdomen throbbed in response to that thought, and the blond haired pirate may have let the string ride a little heavier around Law's limbs out of reflex. He did not want the Heart Pirate captain to try that little trick again; Doflamingo highly doubted he could repair as well as he had managed the first time.

Which wasn't much, all things considered.

When Law did begin to stir, Doflamingo had no idea that he was about to get a taste of what Luffy and the others had first seen when they'd found the dark haired pirate alone in the woods and out of his mind. Because when Law opened his eyes, it was clear, even to Doflamingo, that the brat had no damn idea where he was or who he was with. And Doflamingo knew that because that was one of the first things that came out of Law's mouth.

"Who are you?"

The sincerity of the statement was not something that Doflamingo had anticipated and it allowed him to settle on what had been bothering him as he had waited for the Surgeon of Death to wake up. If it was what he thought it was, it appeared as if Law had somehow lost his memory since Doflamingo had last seen him. And that memory loss seemed to include memories of him and what had happened between them on Dressrosa since Law was not outwardly aggressive toward him right now.

A grin worked its way onto Doflamingo's face.


	9. Chapter 9

Law had not expected to lose consciousness on the spot, but figured that he had been exhausted to begin with. And being harassed by some vaguely familiar and menacing presence did nothing to get him to better health nor help the aching of his head from being struck down in the first place. The dark haired man had not even seen the strike coming, and had had no time to get out of the way. Law had tried to remain awake, but the pain from the unexpected strike had knocked him out.

The dark haired man let out a slow sigh as he tested his limbs to see that no serious damage had been done by being all but thrown to the ground. Nothing appeared to be broken and was only a tad bit sore and for that Law was grateful. But right now, he couldn't tell why he was upright when his weariness pointed to the fact that he ought to still be on the ground and not on his feet. Law's eyes flicked to the tall man before him, Doflamingo, he recalled, for some reason, and couldn't help but feel that he was the reason for why he was standing. Law wasn't sure why he felt that way.

He just did.

And Law had only asked Doflamingo who he was because he couldn't remember anything other than the man's name. And even that told him nothing other than the fact that he knew the blond from somewhere. Law was waiting for a response, and wasn't sure what to think of the massive grin that crossed the other man's face. It was a bit disconcerting because the man's eyes were on him as he grinned, and it almost looked as if Doflamingo were delighted by the fact that he did not know who he was.

That was rather suspicious, coupled with the fact that the blond haired man had struck him before.

"Are you doing something to my body?" Law asked, when the silence had stretched for too long and he was uncomfortable with the other man's grin and eyes on him. "I feel as if something is holding it up."

"That would be my Devil Fruit powers. I figured I would get you to your feet so you weren't lying at such an odd angle while unconscious." Doflamingo said with an easy smile.

"Only because you hit me with your...was that your hand or your fist?" Law looked Doflamingo over and then added dryly. "Not that it matters because you're larger than me and either way it would have hurt."

"If I had hit you with my fist you would likely still be unconscious as well as injured." Doflamingo responded. "And I wouldn't have even been able to hit you if you had gotten out of the way like I expected you to."

"You expected me to dodge?" Law asked, politely confused now as he attempted to figure out why that would be. "Why would you attack me in the first place then?"

"Do I need a reason to test one of my crew's reflexes?" Doflamingo asked with a grin, as if he'd made a joke of some sort that only he knew the punchline to.

Even more suspicious.

"Crew?" Law asked, and then recalled, from a conversation with Straw Hat and his crew. "I thought I was the captain of a ship."

"You are, you just report to me on occasion. You insisted on going off on your own." Doflamingo said smoothly.

"I'm not so sure about that..." Law said, a nagging feeling in the back of his mind over the idea. It didn't seem right to him.

"We don't need to nitpick right now. It seems like something happened to you." Doflamingo stated as he flexed as hand.

Law held perfectly still as he felt his body forced into movement. It was a bizarre sensation and he didn't like it.

"Doesn't seem like you were injured when you fell down." The blond commented as he watched the other man walk around.

"If you are doing that, stop it. I feel terrible and I would like to not make my body sorer than it already is." Law insisted with a grimace. He nearly fell over when he felt the sensation leave him, and Law only remained standing because he was next to a tree and was able to prevent himself from falling over by catching himself against it.

"What were you running from?" Doflamingo asked, the taller man's tone curious. "I'd say part of the reason you didn't dodge was because you were preoccupied by something else."

"Marines." Law made brief eye contact with the blond before he averted his gaze. For some reason, looking the other man in the eyes was unnerving, as if he hadn't done so before when he had apparently run into Doflamingo before. "I escaped from their ship and one of their leaders. He...I don't know. I think he did something because I remember even less than before, but I am not sure why."

"Sounds like someone got you with their Devil Fruit." Doflamingo mused with a frown. "That would explain why you don't remember who I am."

"You never did say who you were." Law pointed out.

"Donquixote Doflamingo." The blond said with a faint grin. "And why do you think it was a marine that scrambled you memory?"

"Scrambled...I suppose that is a good way to put it." Law said, before he sagged against the tree. "I'm not certain how it happened. I just felt that I needed to get away for some reason or another. There's a big blank as to why I needed to get away from the marines." Law paused briefly before he met Doflamingo's eyes again. "I need to go assist the people that the marines forced me into helping capture. Something happened that made me feel as if I was supposed to help the marines, and now I know that I shouldn't have." Law frowned thoughtfully. "I presume that they are being taken to another island. I was the only one brought to this base that I am aware of."

"Who was captured?" Doflamingo asked, amused.

"Straw Hat and some of his crew, as well as a person or two from another crew." Law stated, and frowned some more when his words made Doflamingo crack up. The dark haired man wasn't sure why it was so funny, and had no desire to ask for the other man's reasoning.

"Can't have that, now can we?" Doflamingo said, more to himself than Law. "It would most definitely be no fun should they think they have captured Straw Hat without underhanded tricks." The blond grinned again, and beckoned for Law to come over to him. "I think I would like to get back at the navy for an insult they have given me, so I will assist you to the next island." Doflamingo shook his head at Law's glare. "Not because I want to help you but because those idiots should have never been able to get their hands on Straw Hat Luffy and his crew that easily. Besides..." Doflamingo's grin stretched into a terrifying grin. "I want to have the honor of dealing with Straw Hat myself."

Law was suspicious of the man at those words but felt that he did need the assistance. And the dark haired man was mainly going to find the others because he had realized that he had been forced to attack Luffy but despite that, Straw Hat had held back from injuring him. And Law had seen that Luffy had had to try hard to not lash back out in return, and that alone had given Law the clarity to not injure Straw Hat as seriously as he could have from the angle he'd struck from. Law figured that he owed Luffy for that because he was certain that Straw Hat could have harmed him greatly had he chosen to.

"Can you use your Devil Fruit powers or did you forget how to do that as well?" Doflamingo cut in.

"I think I can figure them out from what little I can remember." Law said, flexing a hand and calling on his powers briefly before dismissing them. Memories of exhausting himself and having Straw Hat strike him unconscious lingered in the back of his mind from when he couldn't recall how to properly dismiss his powers. "It should suffice to assist Straw Hat and the others."

"I feel rested enough that I can get the two of us to another marine base. It is likely where they would be headed, if you were brought to the one on this island." Doflamingo hesitated before he smirked at the sound of shouts drawing nearer. "It sounds as if your pursuers are getting closer."

"I can hear that perfectly well without you informing me." Law shook his head as he eyed Doflamingo suspiciously. "And how are we to go anywhere without a ship?"

"There isn't much time to explain, so as irritating as it may be for me..." Doflamingo grudgingly turned around and gritted out. "Get on my back and hang on."

"Excuse me?" Law stared at the other man's back in complete and utter confusion. This did nothing to solve the problem of having on vessel to sail on, and two people commandeering a marine ship on a base full of marines was out of the question.

"Just do it. I don't like it anymore than you would had you actually had all of your memories." Doflamingo grumbled. "I can only hope that you won't remember any of this when you regain your memory or I'll be forced to kill you."

"That doesn't sound very promising." Law said, still skeptical of what would be accomplished by piggybacking with the other man other than sheer embarrassment for the both of them. But a stray marine bullet prompted Law to hoist himself up and for some reason, he had a weird sort of satisfaction of having his arms around the other man's neck and partially choking him. Like he wanted to cause harm to the other man but had no idea why that would be. And then Law had to focus on not falling off when Doflamingo somehow was up in the air and traversing the sky like some overgrown bird. And then some words sprang unbidden to Law's lips, even if it seemed utterly trivial. "Where is your jacket?"

Doflamingo was silent but he did twitch ever so slightly when he took in the question.

Law fell quiet himself, wondering where in the world the question had even come from. The blond haired man wasn't even wearing a jacket right now, and he had no memory of this man other than a vague sense of unease and knowing that he'd run into him before. The disquieting feeling of forgetting something important left Law's mind as he clung to Doflamingo in an attempt to not fall off and into the sea.

"What are you doing? We'll fall and drown!" Law snapped suddenly as Doflamingo changed directions midair and began to move in a northern direction. Doflamingo merely laughed away like he found the dark haired man amusing in that moment, and it made Law tighten his grasp.

Little did Law know that had he fallen Doflamingo would have not bothered going to retrieve him.

-x-

"I can't believe this happened." Nami said, glancing around the small cell she and a fellow crewmate were in. "And I can't believe that vice admiral was able to manipulate Law like that." The orange haired navigator paced the entire cell fruitlessly. "I hope Robin is all right."

"She was with Franky and the others. Chopper will be able to help if she was hurt." Usopp was over by the door and feeling the entire frame, searching for some weakened hinges.

"Any luck with the door?" Nami asked as she joined her crewmate by the door.

Usopp offered a half smile. "These guys must not oil the hinges often." The sniper pointed out the top most hinge that held the door in place. "I think I can erode the hinge all the way through, and that will leave the middle and lower ones."

"It's too bad they took my clima tackt. I could have just blown the door down with a gust of wind." Nami stated, before she turned her head back toward Usopp. "I thought that they took your weapon as well?"

"They did." Usopp fished a small bottle out of his pocket. "But they didn't take everything." The sniper puffed his chest out. "I call this 'Usopp's super special firey hot sauce,' guaranteed to melt through just about anything."

"You mixed something erosive in it?" Nami asked, brightening at the prospect of escape.

"You got it." Usopp struck a pose. "I always carry it in case of capture."

"Then use it so we can go and meet up with the others." Nami insisted. "Knowing Luffy, as soon as he gets free everything is going to get crazy."

"Right."

-x-

Penguin was just a tad bit on the unnerved side at the sight of Sanji striking the door over and over and saying 'Nami' was in danger and that he had to go and help her.

What about helping themselves first?

The Heart Pirate stayed well out of the way and decided it best to let the Straw Hat crewmate whale on the door do as he would. In the meantime, Penguin was going to try and think of the best way to meet up with everyone who had been captured, and, more importantly, how they were going to get off of an island crawling with marines.

And Law.

Where was his captain? Was he on this island as well or had he been taken to another one?

Penguin moved to the far side of the cell as Sanji's legs seemed to catch fire and he went at the door with even more vigor than before.

-x-

Law and Doflamingo reached the island in what seemed like record time for traversing between islands. There had been no words between them and yet Law got the feeling that Doflamingo was silently laughing at him for one reason or another.

The dark haired man was grateful that he was on solid ground in what felt like half a hour or so of flying through the air. Doflamingo had landed on a less populated area of the island, away from prying marine eyes, yet close enough that the base was within sight and not too far away to walk to.

Law shouldered his blade and made his way to the fortified fortress that was the marine base. He didn't particularly care at this point in time that the tall, blond haired man was silently trailing along after him, even if he did have a sense of unease because of it. All the while Law was questioning himself over why exactly he was doing this. In the end, the dark haired man decided that he was assisting the pirates because he was trying to make up for stabbing Luffy when he hadn't exactly wanted to but the voice in his head had wanted him to. Law shook the troubling thought away to focus on breaking in to the marine facility.

Doflamingo made it easier for him, because the blond haired man laughed eerily as he laid waste to the side entrance with a show of his Devil Fruit power.

Reckless was a word that crossed Law's mind as he darted past Doflamingo laughing merrily as he cut down the marines who tried to attack him in return. Law's eyes were on the cut open door and not the marines or the laughing blond.

The dark haired man's jaw set.

There was no turning back.

-x-

Usopp's plan to melt through the hinge was a success, and he and Nami managed their escape through trickery and some marine's gullibliliy to a lady in distress.

"Ready?" Usopp muttered, his eyes on a marine walking down the hall their way.

"Ready." Nami agreed from where she was on the ground of the cell.

"Hey! You! Marine! Come quick!" Usopp hollered at the guard. "There's something wrong in here!"

The guard looked agitated as he hurried over.

Usopp wisely kept away from the bars as the guard rattled it with his weapon.

"What's the problem?"

Usopp arranged his expression to be one of deep concern as he sighed. "Well, you see, my friend here has a problem when she's locked away."

The guard looked puzzled.

"See? Over there? Can't you see that she's in pain?" Usopp waved his hand in Nami's direction.

"Oh I feel faint." Nami said dramatically, dragging herself over to the bars. "Won't you please help me?" The orange haired navigator had carefully arranged her outfit just so in order for her cleavage to be clearly visible to the guard. Nami lifted her gaze to meet the guard's. "Please? I feel so terrible."

"I, um...well..." The guard clearly didn't seem to know what to make of the display, other than faint interest as his eyes were drawn to one area in particular.

Nami adjusted as she smiled sweetly at the guard, who was unable to hold back a nosebleed at the sight he was presented with.

Bam.

Sucker caught.

"Usopp, now!"

The Straw Hat sniper threw himself at the cell door, and the broken hinges of the door gave way, collapsing onto the guard who was unable to get out of the way. Usopp fell with the door and on top of the guard, knocking the poor man out.

Nami squatted down next to the door, none the worse for the wear as she pick pocketed the man for his money.

"What are you doing?" Usopp demanded, looking up and down the hall as if a horde of marines were going to appear at any second.

"I charge for a peek, remember?" Nami asked as she took what beli the unconscious marine had. "And he got two small peeks, so that makes the total come to-"

"Here they come!" Usopp warned, and the sniper was relieved that Nami left the poor unconscious marine alone with an empty wallet as she joined him to race in the opposite direction the other marines were coming from.

"Let's go look for our weapons. I'm sure they took Zoro's katana when they captured him." Nami said as she caught up and ran alongside Usopp.

"Good idea. Zoro can take care of the marines chasing us." Usopp agreed. The Straw Hat sniper swerved down another hall at the sight of more marines, but in doing so, he was separated from Nami, who called after him.

"Look for weapons but keep an eye out for Luffy!"

"Right!"

Nami focused on running from the marines behind her, frustrated that she had no weapon to defend herself with. The orange haired navigator let out a surprised cry as she tripped over uneven flooring tripped fell to the ground. But in doing so, she managed to avoid being wounded by marines coming from the opposite direction.

"Nami!" Sanji came out of nowhere to take out the gathered marines. "How dare you bastards try to lay a finger on Nami!" As soon as the marines were all scattered on the ground and unconscious, Sanji raced over to swoon over the Straw Hat navigator. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Nami said, as she brushed herself free of dust, missing the sight of Penguin flushing and turning away at the sight of her dusting her chest off as well. Satisfied with her appearance for the time being, Nami turned her attention to the Heart Pirate. "How'd you two get out of the cell?"

"Captain did." Penguin said softly.

"Does he remember you?" Nami asked.

"No, he didn't."

Nami doesn't pursue the topic, mainly because Penguin looked so upset over the fact that his own captain didn't remember him. Instead, she said. "Usopp and I were separated not too long ago."

"We should go find him and Luffy." Sanji said as he lit a cigarette. "And moss head while we're at it."

"We should find our confiscated weapons first." Nami stated, inwardly hoping that the marines weren't too organized, despite the high level officers that appeared to be there on that island.

-x-

Zoro breathed heavily from exertion of trying to escape but was having no luck thus far. The green haired swordsman didn't want to waste time, in case Luffy was taken off of the island, which wouldn't be good. Zoro lifted his head to the cell door as he sensed someone else's presence, followed by that person's shadow.

Law.

Zoro and Law stared at one another before the green haired swordsman spoke. "Do you remember me?"

"No." Law shook his head. "I only remember that you and Straw Hat found me in the forest and were trying to help me remember." Law hesitated before he added. "Jumping off of the ship had not been the best idea."

Zoro left it at that. If Law didn't remember, there was no point in pushing him to. "Can you get me out of here? The marines have taken Luffy away."

"They did?" Law eyed the cell before he raised a hand. "Room." The surgeon twisted his hand and used his Devil Fruit powers to bring the green haired swordsman out of the cell. With a few deft movements of his blade, Law freed Zoro's hands.

"I thought you didn't know how to use your powers." Zoro said. "Robin said you didn't even remember having them."

"For some reason, after being with the marines and using those powers against you and your captain...I...remembered them. For the most part." Law said vaguely. "I'm sure there's more to it, but I felt it would be enough to come and assist you all."

"It does seem to be enough for now." Zoro agreed before he began to head down a hall. "I need my katana now if I'm going to go help Luffy."

"You shouldn't go that way." Law warned. "It's the mess hall."

Zoro turned on his heels immediately and went in the opposite direction.

Law joined the swordsman, blade sheathed. "Where did the marines take Straw Hat?"

"I'm not sure but I have a bad feeling about it. They just came and took him out of the cell. Less than an hour ago." Zoro shook his head. "I don't even know if he is still on this island."

Both Zoro and Law stopped in their tracks at the sight of Usopp hurtling toward them, a group of marines hot on his trail. The Straw Hat sniper, upon seeing one of his crewmates, waved to him desperately.

"Zoro! Help meee!"

-x-

Law had found two of Luffy's crew, and now another, after he and Zoro had taken out the marines that had been chasing the sniper. Law recognized him as the one whose foot had been injured before, that he, Law, had treated. That was right, he was a doctor of some sort, even if he couldn't remember it. The dark haired man was not sure what he thought about the idea of Straw Hat being taken away to another island because Zoro was right. They would try and take Luffy somewhere where is allies were not able to easily reach him. Law took care of a few more marines as the green haired swordsman nearby took a few weapons from the marines until he found his own.

At least, Zoro would have taken the weapons had Nami, Sanji and Penguin not joined them then, the orange haired navigator carrying three katana.

Law watched as Usopp received his sling, before something...something distracted him.

A voice.

A voice was calling out to him.

And he felt that he needed to go to where it was. Just to see what it was. He would still find Straw Hat.

Go.

He had to go there now.

He had to ignore the people telling him to not go wherever it was that he was now running to.

But he had to.

Law had to go there or something terrible would happen.

He had to go, even when someone called out to him, laughing and asking where he was going off to in such a daze.

But he wasn't in a daze

Law was just going where he was supposed to go.

And when the dark haired man got there, he would have nothing to worry about.

The voice had said so, and Law felt that the voice had been right.

There was nothing to worry about.

Law stood near a stern faced man, and did nothing but go in the direction of the ship when he was urged to do so. He was to ignore the voices that called out to him to stop. Because he wasn't supposed to listen to them. They were pirates, after all. Law didn't have to listen to them. Law also didn't need to react to the sight of a green haired swordsman fending off a group of marines. Nor did he have to react to someone with a symbol on his chest similar to Law's own, pleading for him to snap out of it.

Snap out of it?

Law had nothing to snap out of.

"You're pathetic, letting them manipulate you like this."

Law halted mid step.

He couldn't move. He couldn't take another step. This sensation, it was familiar. Law was sure it had happened to him that same day. But who had done it? What had caused him to stop moving?

"Doflamingo! Capture him! He escaped custody a few days ago!"

"He doesn't have his warlord status anymore!"

"Where is the sea stone prism! Get it quick!"

There was some cacophony of sound, and suddenly, Law could move again, because something had struck the tall man. Doflamingo had presumably stopped him from moving, but now it was gone, and whatever had stopped the blond had caused Doflamingo to fall to his knees.

And yet...

Law started to walk again, dismissing the blond entirely from his mind.

It wasn't important. What was important was that he get on the ship and get on it now.

There wasn't any time to linger. No reason to watch people try to stop him. They were pirates, after all. No reason to pay them any heed. All Law was supposed to do was to go to the ship and then down to the cell. Why he was supposed to go to the cell, he didn't know, but Law knew he was supposed to go, so he would.

But when sea stone shackles settled over his wrists the moment he entered that cell, everything snapped back into sharp clarity.

"Hey! What are you doing to him?"

Law struggled to wade through the memories that were flowing back to him as if they'd never been gone, and when he was able to focus, it was to see vice admiral Fall leave the holding cell of the ship.

But the voice that had spoken let Law know that he had found Straw Hat Luffy, even if both of them were now prisoners.

-x-

Luffy was upset at what Fall had done to Law, but as soon as the marine was out of sight the Straw Hat captain scooted over to the cell door in order to look over at Law, and saw that he hadn't yet moved from where he sat. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Straw Hat-ya." Law said after a moment as he dropped his hands onto his lap and lifted his head to meet Luffy's eyes.

"You remember!" Luffy brightened up immediately.

"Yes, I remember." Law said quietly as he glanced in the direction Fall had gone. "That marine's Devil Fruit is troublesome." The dark haired Heart Pirate whipped his head back to Luffy to fix him an irritable glare as something came to mind just then. "And since when in the hell am I your friend?"

"Well, you are. That's how it is." Luffy stated, as if Law was stupid for even asking.

"Don't go deciding that on your own, Straw Hat-ya." Law rattled his shackles irritably.

"I'm glad that you can remember everything now." Luffy said with a laugh, clearly unconcerned that Law had taken offense to being thought of as a friend.

"That vice admiral may try to use his powers on me again." Law warned. "I will forget things again if that is the case.'

"We'll just kick his ass before he can do it again." Luffy said simply.

"How are we to do that, shackled as we are?" Law wondered how the other captain could be so optimistic.

"We'll figure something out." Luffy said confidently.

Law didn't find that a ringing endorsement. The Heart Pirate was silent for a moment before he suddenly groaned as something else surfaced in his memories.

Luffy wore a confused look, at least until Law spoke again.

"I cannot believe that you and your crew made me do such embarrassing things." Law said in a deadpan voice, as if too mortified to even recall them now that he had even thought of it.

Luffy just grinned in return as if remembering the events as well.

Law leaned against the nearest wall before a troubled expression rose on his face. The Heart Pirate glanced at Luffy before he looked away again and spoke off handedly. "How is your wound?"

"It's fine since you didn't hit anything important." Luffy said cheerfully. "Chopper looked at it for me and took care of it." Luffy crossed his arms and frowned a little. "Besides, it was that marine made you do it, so don't worry about it."

"I wasn't going to." Law said gruffly, though his expression said otherwise.

Luffy noticed and grinned again.

Law ignored the smiling Straw Hat captain as he went back to sorting through his memories of what had happened. Law remembered what happened the first time Fall had used his powers on him, and what went on when he had run into the Straw Hats. The Heart Pirate counted himself lucky that his mind was jumbled, especially when he'd run into Doflamingo. Law was not sure if the blond haired pirate would have tortured him or killed him otherwise. It was disconcerting enough to find the man alive and breathing after he'd hit the man with his gamma knife. Doflamingo was certainly a monster to have survived that, even if he didn't seem to be in the best of shape right now.

Law gave his head a brief shake, breaking off that train of thought. He needed to focus on his and Luffy's predicament.

What could they do now? And where were the marines taking him and the Straw Hat captain? Wherever it was, it could spell nothing but trouble for himself and Luffy. And then the Straw Hat captain spoke, confirming that the black haired teen had no sense of just how much trouble they were in.

"Hey, do you think they will give us any meat?"

Law stared up at the ceiling in despair. If ever there was a time to be without his memory, now was a good a time as any. It was hard enough trying to come up with some semblance of a plan when Luffy could only think of his stomach.

His stomach...

The dark haired Heart Pirate smirked suddenly.

Law had an idea and he felt that even if nothing came of it, it would be amusing to see Straw Hat wreck destruction upon a ship in search of food as well as his straw hat, which Law had noticed just then was absent.

And it seemed that Luffy had just noticed as well, if the sight of Luffy striking the cell door was any indication, coupled with his displeased proclamation.

"Where's my hat?"

"That marine took it." Law supplied helpfully, and sat back to watch as Luffy made short work of the cell which, for some reason, was not made of sea stone.

"I'm gonna kick their ass!" Luffy claimed before he swung his foot at the cell Law was in.

The dark haired Heart Pirate ducked, believing that perhaps he didn't think this through very well. He most certainly hadn't expected for Luffy to have enough stamina while cuffed with sea stone until Law realized that some fool had put ordinary shackles on the other captain, as he snapped the shackles off impatiently.

Why hadn't he done that before?

Law grunted as Luffy hoisted him over one shoulder and had a terrible sense of dejavu after being carted around Dressrosa for a time.

And then they were off with Luffy hollering the entire way.

"Give me back my hat!"

Law hung his head as he just barely held back a groan.

This wasn't how he envisioned escaping from the marines, but if it worked, he might be a little more forgiving of Luffy jostling him around so much.


	10. Chapter 10

As Luffy ran hollering down the hall of the marine ship, Law wondered if he ought to be more optimistic about things. After all, there was nothing wrong with hoping that Straw Hat's foolish antics would go right for once. It had worked throughout Dressrosa, for the most part, but the dark haired Heart Pirate would really rather have not left his fate up to someone so wild and reckless.

Law pointedly ignored the fact that he had been rash and really quite reckless when he had attempted to battle Doflamingo the first time around. To allow for more time for Straw Hat's crew to do something without Doflamingo's interference on Dressrosa.

It was a wonder they didn't all die when all the plans that had been in place were torn to pieces. At the very least it had worked out in the end.

Law's head lolled to one side as he tried very much not to hurl verbal abuse Straw Hat's way for the way he was carrying him over his shoulder. It wasn't the most comfortable position, as he was jostled with each movement Luffy made as the Straw Hat pirate captain ran down the hall. Like he didn't expect for there to be any marine interference.

The Surgeon of Death wasn't as optimistic as his fellow captain in that regard. There had to be some marines around that heard all the racket that Straw Hat was making about his hat. Already Law had already figured out several ways that this could go very very wrong, and most of them were because he was still chained in sea stone prism.

It didn't make for a sure-fire escape.

Law again felt that Luffy was stupid for not thinking it could be a problem, him being chained without access to his op op powers, and with the potential of running into higher ranked marines. On his own, Law had no doubt Luffy could handle them, but when he was carrying the Heart Pirate captain and trying to, from the sounds of it, reclaim his hat and then escape, it didn't seem like the best of ideas.

Mainly because Law had no way to defend himself.

"Where'd you put my hat?" Luffy demanded as soon as he caught sight of a marine rounding the corner that presumably led to the upper decks.

Law hid a not quite groan, figuring that at this point in time, having his memory scrambled around would have better protected him from Luffy's simple mindedness. But he couldn't help but smirk just a little, because he could hear that the poor marine had halted in their tracks as if not expecting to see the captured pirates out of their cells.

The marine in question froze in place, clearly _not_ expecting to see an upset Luffy barreling toward him, with the Heart Pirate captain slung over one shoulder. Had the marine glimpsed Law's face, he may have started running away faster than he had begun to.

If Law could have, he would have used his powers to cut both the marine and Luffy up, though in Straw Hat's case, he would probably find it more fascinating than humiliating to be in pieces. The marine looking relieved a moment later didn't bode well, nor did Luffy suddenly halting in place, because the younger pirate captain sounded confused at the lack of movement.

"Huh? Why'd I stop moving?"

Good question.

Law made an attempt to move himself, and found that he was held in place as well.

That didn't bode well at all, and Law knew exactly what had happened. In the confusion of escape, the dark haired pirate had almost forgotten that the marines had managed to capture Doflamingo as well, and that meant…

That meant…

Law strained to see out of the corner of his eye from where he hung limply on Luffy's shoulder, and he could just barely make Fall out, and as he wasn't the one that had stopped them in their tracks...

That left only one option.

Law being held in place as well as Straw Hat meant that the vice admiral had somehow managed to exert his Devil Fruit powers over Doflamingo. Law closed his eyes briefly. The mere idea of what Fall could do by manipulating Doflamingo and his powers was a terrifying thought all on its own. It almost made the dark haired captain forget to be amused by the fact that Doflamingo was weakened enough for the takeover to happen in the first place. It served the son of a bitch right, though at he moment, it was very inconvenient for Law and Luffy, as they were trying to escape.

Or, at least, Law wanted to. Straw Hat seemed fixated on his hat.

"Not the most brilliant of escape attempts." Fall commented as he came into view, twirling Luffy's straw hat idly. "Did you really think you could get away that easily?"

"Hey! That's mine! Give it back!" Luffy demanded, not seeming to care as to the serious and potentially dangerous position at he was in. Nor the fact that he was unable to move at present. Or to even bother to listen to what Fall was saying, for that matter.

Law was silent as he chose to eye the large figure in the shadows of the hall behind Fall. Even looking at his surroundings upside-down as he was, it was still disturbing to see Doflamingo not wearing a smile, as that normally meant that someone was going to die. In this instance, Law knew that it was likely because somewhere inside, Doflamingo was fighting the control Fall had over him. Law couldn't help but smirk faintly at the sight before he breathed aloud softly. "How does it feel to be manipulated, Joker?"

Naturally Doflamingo didn't answer. He just stood there with a blank expression, eyes hidden by those shades. The blond haired pirate merely held a hand out in Law and Luffy's direction to restrain them with his Devil Fruit powers. What Law found concerning was that Doflamingo wasn't breathing as heavily as before. Had he had enough time to recover from his wounds? Law frowned. He couldn't completely heal the internal ones, but he had to have done something to prevent the damage from spreading.

Another inconvenience.

Law wasn't too sure of Fall's control over the older pirate, and wondered what the chances were for Doflamingo shredding them to pieces. After all, from what Law could glean, Doflamingo's other hand that was at his side twitched now and again, and the Heart Pirate captain wondered if the blond haired pirate really was trying to fight back against Fall's mental manipulation of his memories. Law couldn't see how; he'd not remembered much of anything even when he had initially gotten away, memory scattered, and run into Luffy and his crew soon after.

But if it was possible to fight against the confusing loss of memory, then it meant that there was more of a limit to Fall's powers, including its use on one person at a time.

"I didn't think my powers would be able to work on him." Fall indicated Doflamingo with a jerk of his head, before focusing on the straw hat he was absently twirling. "I can't let the two of you escape that easily. My superiors would be very displeased if I managed to let such high bounties get away."

"Give me back my hat!" Luffy demanded, still on a one track mind.

Law wanted to say something, but at the tightening of the string that held him and Straw Hat in place, the dark haired Heart Pirate decided against it. It would just be his luck if his voice triggered something in Doflamingo's scattered memory, and that thought made Law wonder if the other man even recognized him at the moment.

"Bring Straw Hat Luffy with us. I doubt the other will be of much trouble with the sea stone."

Law would have liked to flip Fall off if he'd had the strength to do so, but between being restrained with those cuffs and Doflamingo's powers, the most Law could manage was a soft huff of laughter.

Things were not going very well at all.

A few marines slipped by Fall after the vice admiral had spoken, and as soon as they got one of Luffy's wrists in a sea stone cuff, Fall made some kind of half wave in Doflamingo's direction.

Doflamingo's Devil Fruit power vanished, and Law found himself going in for a meeting with the deck of the hall, which was rather painful, all things considered. The dark haired Heart Pirate lay on his side as he watched as Luffy still went on about his hat.

"I'll kick your ass." Luffy said with certainty. "You're getting in my way!"

It would have been a good threat if Luffy weren't being affected by the sea prism stone that he'd been cuffed. And as he was led away to somewhere above deck, it didn't stop him from harassing the already harassed marines about his hat.

Great.

That left Law with Fall and a scatter minded Doflamingo, which really should have been funny but it wasn't. Not right now, anyway, as depending on how Fall had managed it, Law was in trouble either from Doflamingo having memories of him, or the vice admiral making him think he was an enemy of sorts. Law frowned at the deck. That meant Doflamingo wouldn't like him either way, and in both instances the Surgeon of Death was in danger of being dismembered limb from limb unless Fall had something else in mind.

"Now that that is taken care of…" Fall waved a few marines in the direction of the cells that had remained behind with him. "Take Law back to the cell, and get more of those chains ready as well." Fall subtly seemed to indicate Doflamingo, and Law couldn't help but smirk at the thought of Doflamingo when he became aware again, and chained.

Law felt himself helped to his feet before he was led away, though he had to let the marines do most of the walking. The dark haired pirate had a hard time getting his legs to move right.

Exhaustion was a pain in the ass, and so was sea prism stone. Ten minutes later, and the Heart Pirate captain was cursing his bad luck yet again.

Because Luffy had burst free of his cell, it couldn't be used. Which left the smaller cell, and Law pressed himself up against the wall opposite of Doflamingo, as if expecting the older man to try something, despite being chained rather liberally with sea stone. The sight was amusing, but not when Doflamingo seemed to realize where he was and who he was with, once Fall had left their sight and went above deck with the other marines.

"I take it that that was what you went through with those powers." Doflamingo commented, his voice devoid of any inflection. "No wonder you didn't recognize me before."

"If you mean remembering what happened to you when you had no memories, then yes, that is what I experienced." Law answered, letting his back rest a tad bit more heavily against the wall. Then, since he didn't seem to be in danger of being torn to shreds, Law made the decision to smirk at the blond. "How does it feel, Joker? To be manipulated against your will by someone else?"

Doflamingo grinned eerily at that, but said nothing. He had started to wheeze again, and that, at the very least, let the dark haired Heart Pirate know that the older pirate hadn't made a spontaneous recovery.

Law said nothing in return, not about to press his luck, and merely watched the older pirate warily. He hated those shades that Doflamingo wore, because he couldn't tell if Doflamingo was looking at him, had closed his eyes or was staring off into space. No matter how much he wanted to make a dig at Doflamingo about how long his body would hold out when he was chained by sea stone, Law remained quiet.

Doflamingo's chains clinked as he stretched out. The older pirate let out some low hum of contemplation as he similarly moved his hands, as if testing out the strength of the chains.

Law didn't think the strength mattered, as it was a matter of being able to move while being drained of energy that was the problem. No matter how strong Doflamingo was, injured or not, there was no way for the man to tear the chains apart. Trying to do so would only wear the blond out. Law tensed as the tip of Doflamingo's nearest foot prodded his. Law moved the limb away and eyed Doflamingo cautiously. He really hoped that those chains were secure, because he'd rather not give Doflamingo the idea to kick him to death or something. Bastard was big enough that he didn't need Devil Fruit powers to kill him if he really wanted to.

"So, Law, what were you planning to do when Kaido showed himself?" Doflamingo's grin stretched in a rather savage way. "Because I think I would like to toss you before him and see what he does to the one who was the cause of him losing SMILE."

Law's face set; he was not going to say a damn thing. That is, he wasn't going to, until Doflamingo did manage to move, despite the chains. What the hell were the marines thinking, not keeping the chains set into the wall? Before Law knew it, the older pirate had yanked him away from the wall through sheer force of will, and thrown him none too gently to the ground A foot to the back of his neck stilled Law immediately, as well as any chance of sliding out of range.

Terrible way to go, really. Crushed to death by a formerly pink feather wearing son of a bitch who seemed to be too pleased about something.

"What do you say, Law? Shall I take you before Kaido, or should I just kill you now, before the marines show up?" The blond haired pirate let his foot rest against the back of Law's neck more heavily. "Or would you like to be useful and use your powers on me?"

"And die anyway?" Law's voice was slightly muffled against the deck. "I'd rather die and not give you anything, just to spite you."

Doflamingo laughed darkly, and the pressure of the foot became nearly unbearable.

"By the way, you were a useful mode of transportation." Law dared to rasp out, full well remembering Doflamingo's warning that he'd kill him if he even so much as whispered a word about it. Or remembered it, which the Heart Pirate captain did.

"Making things harder on yourself still? I thought you knew better than to taunt me." Doflamingo's voice held a sneer, even if the blond seemed to become more and more out of breath. "You really are a fool."

"Better a fool than a dead man." Law still hoped that Kaido would come and murder Doflamingo for him.

"That can be arranged." The older pirate replied snidely.

Law let out what suspiciously sounded like a squeak as his breath left him completely as Doflamingo's foot changed positions and drove into his back. The motion also ended any more quips Law may have chosen to throw the blond's way.

Bastard.

"That mouth of yours gets you into too much trouble, Law." Doflamingo said, his voice back to an almost conversational tone as he pressed down harder with his foot. "First threatening me to resign as a warlord, then not saying Straw Hat was your subordinate to buy him and his crew more time, and even your digs about the will of 'D' in an attempt to throw me off in our other fight. You don't know when to give up."

Law cursed wordlessly, and would have indicated that the blond haired pirate didn't know when to give up either. Just what kind of condition was Doflamingo in anyway? He seemed to have hidden reserves of energy just when Law thought the older pirate's internal injuries would be more than just a minor hindrance. Doflamingo really did sound bound and determined to kill him there and now, and it was really inconvenient, not to mention humiliating, to think he really might be crushed to death in this manner after all. He should have just played along and-

"Really? And I thought I told them to chain you more securely." A flat voice said.

Law suddenly had the pressure vanish from his back, though it wasn't because Fall had used his Devil Fruit powers on Doflamingo.

The older pirate had moved himself so he could get close to the cell to leer unpleasantly at Fall, as if he knew that there wasn't much Law could do should he choose to try and crush him under foot again.

Law discreetly edged as far away from Doflamingo as he could, taking in several gasping breaths of air as he struggled to shake the light headed feeling he now had. A few moments more and he very well might have passed out.

"I don't remember you being any kind of admiral." Doflamingo was acting as if he'd done nothing to threaten Law's continued existence. "You must be new if you don't know who I am."

"I don't care who you are, other than the fact that you are a pirate, and no longer a warlord." Fall said, seemingly disinterested in anything Doflamingo had to say. He raised a hand, and in it he held a gun. "I'd rather Trafalgar Law stay in one piece for now. He'll be useful when we make landfall next to keep away any intruders."

Doflamingo seemed to glance at Law, before he sneered at Fall. "You will regret this."

"No more than you'll regret this." Fall shot Doflamingo, and the blond haired pirate cursed as he ended up toppling over to the ground on his back. Fall lowered the gun disinterestedly, his expression not changing. "It wasn't sea stone that I shot you with, if you're curious. It was just a large dose of a sleeping drug. May as well keep you unconscious for most of the trip."

Doflamingo wheezed out some kind of laughter before he went still on his back.

Law saw the rise and fall of the blond's chest, and found that he was slightly disappointed that it didn't kill Doflamingo.

"I'll see you in the morning." Fall directed Law's way, before he left.

The Heart Pirate captain didn't find that very encouraging. But he did appreciate Doflamingo being shot. It was just a shame it wasn't an actual bullet that could have caused harm. Law warily chose to keep his distance, not sure if there was a high enough dosage in the world of a sleeping drug that would keep Doflamingo out for very long.

Morning couldn't come soon enough.

-x-

Robin!" Sanji gushed as he flailed around the woman in question. "You're all right!"

Robin smiled at Sanji's antics, clearly used to the blond's fawning over herself and Nami. "I'm glad to see that you all are fine as well. I was worried the marines might have tortured you to death."

"Hey! Don't say things like that!" Usopp said, from where he was watching a ship sailing further ahead.

"We're going after that ship, right?" Zoro queried from where he lounged on the stairs of the Thousand Sunny, hand idly resting on the hilts of his katana.

"That's what we decided after we heard that wiretapped conversation ten minutes ago." Nami informed the swordsman. "They're taking Law and Luffy to another marine base, and they're going to try and execute them there." The orange haired navigator shook her head. "They're both so much trouble."

None of the Straw Hats brought up the fact that Doflamingo was on the marine ship too. They all had seen the blond haired pirate being dragged onto the marine ship in chains in the aftermath of the fight they'd been engaged in. Not too long after they were reunited with the rest of their crew.

"Where is Law's crew?" Chopper asked from where he was trying to get Robin to his level to check on her injury.

The dark haired woman allowed the reindeer doctor to check her as she answered. "They're going on ahead to see if there's a shore that is not as heavily guarded." To Chopper, she added. "I was lucky that attack hit me where it did. It was more of a graze on closer inspection."

"It does look to be okay." Chopper agreed, before he scurried over to where Usopp was. "Can you figure out which one Luffy's on?"

"It's hard to say. They all look the same." Usopp answered his crewmate.

"It may come down to a fight." Sanji said, coming up to stand alongside Usopp to survey the ships sailing on ahead of them. "They're not going to make things easy, especially since Luffy and Law both have high bounties."

"And Luffy's caused them a lot of grief." Nami added before she shook her head. "I hope they have more treasure ferreted away on this next island." The orange haired woman held up a small bag that jingled. "This was all they had at the last base."

"Is that why you took so long to leave?" Zoro asked, turning his head. "The reason why I had to fend those marines off longer when you went to 'go get something?'"

"It was my fee for some of the marines getting a look." Nami mimed showing off her chest, and that set Sanji off.

Zoro brought down the blond haired cook's mood almost immediately with a statement.

"Hey, shit cook, what's for dinner?"

"Huh?" Sanji stopped what he was doing and got up in Zoro's face, as the green haired swordsman had stood up. "What was that you said, moss head?"

"When's dinner, love cook?" Zoro had his hand on a hilt of a katana. "Or did you need some help remembering where the kitchen is?"

Nami sighed as Sanji launched a close range kick Zoro's way, the green haired swordsman stepping back smartly to avoid it.

Robin just smiled. "I'm glad everyone is doing well."

"Will the Heart Pirates let us know what they find out?" Nami asked Usopp.

"It sounded like it." Usopp looked away from the ships briefly. "But either way, we're going to have to likely go through at least one marine ship."

"The Sunny won't have any trouble getting through a marine ship or two." Franky called over his shoulder from the helm.

"At the rate we are going, we'll catch up to them in the morning." Nami said, checking the sky and then her log pose. She pointedly ignored Sanji and Zoro fighting with one another, the blond cook's legs on fire as he launched attack after attack only to have it deflected by Zoro's blades. It was only when the two were getting a little carried away that Nami sighed again and decided to intervene. "Oh Sanji!" Nami called out with a smile.

Sanji immediately stopped his fight with Zoro as he almost skipped over to Nami, the green haired swordsman entirely dismissed from his mind. "Yes, Nami?"

"Do you think we can have dinner soon?" Nami offered a quick wink. "I'm hungry after being locked up in that cell."

"I'll get on it right now." Sanji said as he headed off, bumping Zoro in the shoulder to try to get him out of the way of the door.

Zoro didn't budge.

"Move it moss head." Sanji said, nudging the other more heavily.

"Shut it, shitty cook." Zoro planted his feet on the deck firmly.

"There they go again." Usopp commented, sounding unsurprised.

"Uh huh." Chopper nodded in agreement as he turned his attention to his crewmates.

Sanji and Zoro ignored their crewmates as they fell into an argument.

"Get out of my way."

"Oh, so you do remember the way to the kitchen then."

"You lose your way on the ship all the time, stupid moss head."

"Idiot cook."

"I'll kick your ass if you don't move."

"Try it. I'll beat you up with one arm behind my back."

"Oh? Then I guess I'll have both hands behind my back and take you down with only my feet."

"Then I'll use one foot and-"

"Enough of that! What about dinner?" Nami interrupted as she checked the log pose again.

Sanji managed to get by Zoro and through the door. It appeared as if the blond haired cook had resolved to ignore the swordsman. At least until Zoro called after him with an obvious query.

"Oy, where's the sake anyway? I can't find it anywhere."

"You drank all of it that was in the kitchen." Sanji said as he opened the door to glower at Zoro. "If you want more, go look in the storage." The blond shut the door with a parting shot. "Don't get lost looking for it."

That statement had Zoro through the door as soon as it was spoken to continue the fight.

Nami shook her head again at the sounds of things being broken and pans seemingly scattering to the ground.

At the very least, once they reached their destination, Zoro and Sanji would be more interested in helping their captain then fighting with one another.

The sunrise would be a very welcome sight.

-x-

Doflamingo was still fast asleep by the time morning rolled in, and for that Law was grateful. It made him bold enough to edge over to the cell bars, and peer through. He really should have known better than to think that things were starting to go well, because that same damn large foot of Doflamingo's was suddenly digging into his back and pressing him against the bars of the cell. Law tried his best to hold on to the bars to avoid being pressed too closely, but Doflamingo's foot seemed to just rest heavier. "I thought you were unconscious."

"I just woke up." Doflamingo said, and his voice did sound rough with sleep.

"And you decide that it is a brilliant idea to try to kill me again as soon as you're aware enough." Law drawled. "I'm flattered. I didn't think I was worth the extra effort when you already have sea stone to deal with." The Heart Pirate captain didn't bring up being piggybacked by Doflamingo again, but the blond haired pirate being chained up didn't make him seem as intimidating as before. Besides, compared to last night, the pressure of the foot didn't hurt nearly as much as when the foot had been at the base of his neck. "How is this accomplishing anything, by the way? I thought you wanted to force me to use my powers and have me die that way?"

"You're an aggravating little shit." Doflamingo said through clenched teeth, the older pirate sounding like the sea stone and his injures were taking more of a toll then he let on. "I'd rather kill you and give the op op fruit to someone more tolerable and agreeable."

"At it again, are you?" Vice Admiral Fall rounded the corner of the hall that held the cells, and looked Law and Doflamingo over as if he were disgusted to have to deal with either of them.

Doflamingo started to say something, but Law suddenly found himself not understanding why the blond haired man was saying those words. And Law couldn't remember why he was bothered by that foot against his back and it was because of something Fall had said to him.

But what was it?

He couldn't recall, and it had just been said.

And the dark haired man was restrained too, which, in his mind, didn't make sense right now. In fact, quite a lot of things didn't appear to be making sense.

"Why am I chained?" Were the first words that came to mind. The foot twitched against his back but didn't move away. Instead, there was a low chuckle of disbelief that came from the man on the ground behind him. The dark haired man didn't understand. He was helping the marines, wasn't he? So why was he chained?

"You were luring that pirate behind you here. He made you go out of control with his powers, so we had to restrain you both."

The man on the ground, a pirate, the dark haired man presumed, started to crack up, and just when it sounded like he was going to say something, Fall shot him with a gun.

"So you're killing captives now, are you?" The dark haired man asked as he felt the foot lose some of the pressure it had had on his back.

"It was just a drug to make him sleep." Fall said unconcernedly, as he put the gun away and waved a few marines forward. "I don't want him to escape while we let you out."

The foot against his back slid away, and he...Law. Yes, that was his name. Law. He felt some marines undo the chains that had prevented him from attacking anyone because of the pirate now asleep on the ground, and as soon as he was freed, he felt a lot better. And when Law stood up, a word crossed his mind unbidden as he glanced down at the very tall, blond haired pirate on the ground.

Enemy.

Yes, Law knew that the pirate there on the floor of the cell, as well as others, were his enemies.

Fight.

He had to fight. Defend.

Yes, he needed to help the marines escort a criminal to shore. That was what he was supposed to do. Law wondered why he had forgotten that. It seemed easy enough.

Straw Hat Luffy was the enemy.

Yes, how could Law have forgotten that as well? Was he the criminal he was helping to escort?

"This way." Fall said, and the marine began to walk away, as if he didn't have a doubt that the dark haired man would follow.

Law fell into step after the vie admiral, pausing only briefly as he accepted his nodachi from one of the marines. It didn't cross his mind to wonder why some of the marines were watching him with some kind of surprise across their faces. What was so surprising, anyway, about someone assisting them when Law knew he was supposed to?

Once on deck, Law was hailed by a voice both relieved and angry.

"Give me my hat!" A gasp, and then. "Hey! What are you doing with them?"

Law stared at Straw Hat blankly. Why _wouldn't_ he be with the marines? He was supposed to help them, wasn't he? And why was a pirate of all people trying to tell him what to do?

Don't listen to him.

He's lying.

Lies.

All lies.

Yes, of course.

Law blinked as if realizing something blatantly obvious.

Pirates lied.

Law didn't have to believe what Straw Hat said.

Because he was a pirate.

"Hey! What are you doing? Don't listen to them! They're marines! They attacked your crew!"

Law didn't have a crew. None that he could remember. Or did he? But…he wasn't a pirate, right? Otherwise the marines would be attacking him, and they weren't. That meant he was on their side, right?

"Take him ashore." Vice admiral Fall said, and seemed indifferent to Luffy yelling at Law to snap out of it already.

Snap out of it?

That sounded familiar. Like someone had said that to Law before. But when would that have been? Besides, Law couldn't think of what he was supposed to snap out of. And then he didn't care about that, as he knew he was supposed to go ashore and wait for some other pirates to show up in an attempt to rescue their captain.

And when Law saw the incoming ships, he smoothly drew his nodachi in anticipation of the coming fight. The long blade was a familiar weight in his hands.

Familiar.

Reassuring.

He had his orders. Law wouldn't let anyone pass him. Because that was what he was supposed to do. He was no friend to pirates so he had no reason to hold back. And despite Luffy yelling at him as he was taken away, it had no effect on Law whatsoever.

Law had a job to do, and there was no use listening to a pirate, as it had no bearing on what he had to do.

Ten minutes later, and Law was seriously considering that somewhere in the back of his mind, someone had done something wrong, and he was surprised to find that it was not the pirates but the marines that were called in to question. Law didn't know what to do then, and in that moment of uncertainty, he was overpowered by one of the people who had a symbol on their chest that seemed vaguely familiar.

Familiar.

Something very familiar, and that was strange to him in that moment.

After all, it was a symbol on a pirate. If it was familiar, then it would mean that Law really was a pirate, and that he was doing something wrong. And if he was doing wrong, then it meant the marines were not his allies. But that wasn't what his mind was telling him. Law still felt that there were enemies before him.

But then again…

There was a small seed of doubt.

Law didn't know why he should have that doubt, but there was the fact that if he really was helping the marines and an enemy to pirates, then he would have been killed. But he hadn't been. Law had no idea why the person who had disarmed him hadn't finished the job, so that could only mean that there was something missing in his memory that would give him the answer to why he was still alive and breathing.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

And reaching for an answer in his own mind made things even worse for Law.

Because there was no answer to his question, and that made it very hard for him to deny that he very well could be a pirate. And if that was the case, something _had_ gone wrong.

Law had no idea why or what that something wrong would be. He didn't have to be concerned for long, however, because someone had decided to relieve him of his consciousness. He was in for a rude awakening, but at the very least a piece of the dark haired man's memory would be firmly in place.

The marines were Law's real enemy; not the pirates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is now caught up to where it is at on ffn. So when I get around to posting the next chapter there, I'll post it here. There wasn't much to edit when posting it to here, so that's why I got it up more quickly than other fics I've put here.


	11. Chapter 11

Law was not at all surprised to find himself lying on the ground when he woke up from his impromptu nap. That he had ended up knocked out in the first place had been unexpected, as was who had been responsible for taking away his consciousness to begin with. The first thing that Law saw when he opened his eyes were pirates peering down at him, and it took the dark haired man a brief moment to not outwardly react to any of them.

Because Law remembered what he had decided on before he'd been knocked unconscious. That pirates were not his enemy; the marines were.

Things were still rather hazy in his mind, but it was enough for now, since Law knew who the real enemy was. No one said anything to him when he woke up, but that didn't seem to be a problem in the least bit. The mere act of Law waking up flat on his back started an immediate conversation between the pirates with those familiar symbols on their clothes, and the crew of Straw Hat, the person he was going to do…something for.

Law frowned to himself as the murmur of voices steadily continued overhead as he made the attempt to bring some focus to his still rather scattered thoughts. Why was he supposed to help the captain with the straw hat again? He knew there was a reason, and at the moment, it was just out of reach as he shook off any lingering traces of the rest he'd been forced to take. At the very least, Law didn't hear that voice in his head insisting that he attack the pirates.

Because Law wouldn't listen to it.

Not anymore.

Not when the dark haired man knew who the real foe was, and who he needed to deal with to make the voice leave him in peace.

"Are you sure he won't attack us again? That vice admiral's Devil Fruit powers are a real problem here."

Law reluctantly left off trying to grasp those just out of reach memories, and flicked is gaze in the direction of the orange haired woman who had spoken. He hadn't attacked anyone as of yet, and the chances of that were really low now. But what the woman said...that the marine had powers...that, at least, sounded familiar. Like someone had told Law that that was why he couldn't remember things very well, and was apt to attack out of the blue. Law levered himself up into a sitting position, in time to turn his attention to a blond haired man who answered the woman's question.

"He hasn't shown any signs of wanting to attack us at the moment. That vice admiral might be sidetracked by Luffy right now."

There it was again. Talk of the marine. Was it because of the marine possibly being sidetracked that Law didn't feel the urge to betray or otherwise attack these pirates?

"I thought the marines were just bringing him into the base to execute him. Or hold him until he was to be executed." A black haired woman said aloud, a thoughtful look crossing her face. "And how could Luffy cause them trouble right now? They used sea stone prism, didn't they?"

Law frowned again. Did the woman mean the person who wore the straw hat? Law remembered him, as much as his scattered memories allowed, though it was mainly...Luffy's insistence that they were friends. Which still didn't precisely sit well with Law when he thought too much about it, nor the thought of Luffy punching him out when Law first ran into him. Or rather, ran into him with a jumbled memory and not knowing who even he himself was at the time. So much had happened since then, and Law couldn't help but feel some other things happened that he still could not recall.

Highly inconvenient, that.

"But we need to get into the base anyway, don't we?" The green haired swordsman was nearby. "There were a lot of marines outside of that base, but we just need to get past them to get to the captain, right?"

That was right. The vice admiral...Fall...had had him on the island to try and prevent these pirates from getting to Luffy. But now that that voice was not nestled in the back of his mind and urging him into a conflict with these people, Law could recall one other thing. He'd gotten Straw Hat into this mess in some way, and he needed to do something about it. That was what Law thought, anyway, with what little information he had to go on. There were still skips of his memory, and it was confusing to piece it together when something seemed just out of reach.

Something important.

"Can you guys take care of things here?" The orange haired woman spoke to one of the pirates with the symbol on their chest; the one that wore a hat that said 'Penguin' on it.

The man cast a look down in Law's direction before he nodded. "We'll try to get through to him. You might need the captain's help later, and having his memory back would help."

Half the group of pirates departed, leaving Law confused and sitting cross-legged on the ground. What was going on? And what was he supposed to be remembering? And how would that make it easier for him to...help or whatever? Who was he helping? The straw hat wearing individual and his crew? The dark haired man warily eyed the group loosely gathered around him, not entirely clear on their motives regarding him.

"Who are you? Do I...know you all?" Law ventured after a moment, before he noticed that it had been the wrong thing to say; all of the pirates around him looked more despondent than before. Had he…said something wrong? The dark haired man couldn't recall any of them, not with the way he couldn't access some of his memory, even if there was that sense of familiarity to be surrounded by these pirates. So right now, Law was trying to gather information before he decided what to do.

A red haired pirate that wore shades frowned worriedly from where he stood next to Penguin. "How are we supposed to get him to snap out of it?"

Law blinked, puzzled. There those words again.

Snap out of it.

The longer Law could think without that strange voice trying to force him to do something he felt wrong, the more the dark haired man realized there was something that required him to, as the pirates were saying, 'snap out of.' Law would have done that, if he had had any idea what he was supposed to be snapping out of. Before Law could ask the pirates that question, to try and figure that part out, an eerie chuckle rose from the cell they were all grouped outside of.

"You're wasting your time, you know."

Law blinked when he suddenly realized where exactly he was. He was back in the marine ship that he had been on before he'd arrived at another marine base. Exactly how long had he been unconscious?

"I think that you lot would do better to leave him here with me. If anyone's going to get him out of the stupidity he landed himself in that would be me." The voice behind the cell bars sounded highly amused as well as exasperated.

Curious.

The pirates gathered around Law backed away from the cell, startled murmurs of 'Doflamingo' rising among them, along with protests.

"Why should we leave the captain here with you?"

"What if you attack him?"

"The captain wouldn't like it."

"And yet your efforts have amounted to nothing as of yet. Why, he doesn't even recognize any of you. Wouldn't you rather make sure your ship isn't taken by the marines? Your _captain_ …" The blond haired man behind the cell bars, Doflamingo, said the term mockingly. "He is more than capable of defending himself should he actually be in his right state of mind. Besides…" The blond leered nastily at Law. "I don't care much for that vice admiral, and I'd rather have Law and I finish our little conversation from before without powers interfering and making him forget rather important details."

"Ten minutes." The one called Penguin said after a long moment of silence. "Then we'll come back for the captain." The pirate turned a worried look Law's way. "Don't agree to anything if you really can't remember everything."

Law watched the pirates reluctantly file away with wary looks thrown Doflamingo's way, until the dark haired man found himself alone with the blond haired pirate, who was still smiling in a rather unsettling way.

"It's a shame that you don't have all of your memory right now." Doflamingo said, drawing Law's attention to him. The blond's grin widened. "Because you certainly didn't like the way our conversation was headed earlier. And we will finish it, whether you like it or not."

"You gave me a lift to the other marine base before." Law said by way of remembering the blond. At least, a little bit, as the terrifying journey through the sky wouldn't soon be forgotten, no matter how scrambled his mind became. It still made Law distinctly uncomfortable for the other man to be staring at him in such a malevolent way, which in turn made Law wonder what the hell he had done to make the pirate be so angry with him in the first place.

"Well, I suppose you remember that, at least, though nothing before your memory was wiped from your mind." Doflamingo clucked his tongue in a displeased way. "Very inconvenient, but for what I had in mind, it may just work out."

"What are you taking about?" Law didn't think he should trust this man. He still recalled having the large man press his foot against his back in the cell from before. That plainly showed that the blond didn't have good intentions toward him in the least bit, even if the marine had come and shot the blond into unconsciousness soon after with a sleeping drug of some sort.

"We'll have that talk later. For now, I have a little proposition for you." Doflamingo said smoothly.

"What kind of proposition?" Law queried as he wrapped his hand around the sheathe of his nodachi. Law blinked down at it, not remembering picking the weapon up.

"Oh, nothing much. I figured that since you intend to flee from the marines with Straw Hat and the others, that you might let me out so that I can deal with some of them myself." Doflamingo grinned wide despite his erratic breathing clearly giving him discomfort. "Especially since that vice admiral is sticking his nose into business that doesn't concern him. Someone will have to do something about him."

"Why should I let you out? You tried to crush me against the cell earlier." Law demanded.

"You'd been used by that man to lure me into the cell. Why wouldn't I be trying to stop you from doing that?" Doflamingo asked, sounding completely unconcerned about the dark haired man's worries.

"You won't attack anyone but the marines if I let you out?" Law asked suspiciously. The blond haired pirate didn't seem like he was too keen on doing just that, what with the way Doflamingo kept looking at him. It was disquieting, because it appeared as if the blond wished to reach through the cell and throttle Law, for whatever reason, and the only thing stopping him were his shackles as well as the dark haired man's loss of memory.

"On this island, I will only go after the marines." Doflamingo confirmed after a moment's thought. "But on another island? I won't guarantee that I won't attack a certain _someone_." Doflamingo's eyes seemed to bore into Law's from behind the shades, leaving the dark haired man in little doubt as to who the blond was referring to. "Regardless of whether or not they have their memory back."

Law felt a chill race down his spine, but he felt that, given the circumstances, it would be good enough to hold Doflamingo to that. Whatever grudge the blond held against him was bad enough that Doflamingo would likely derive no satisfaction from doing something about it until Law could recall exactly who the blond haired pirate was.

Decision made.

After all, more attack power would be pertinent to getting into the marine base and back out again with minimal difficulty. It made sense at this point in time to do as Doflamingo suggested. Law raised his left hand.

"Room." Law created that bizarre dome using his Devil Fruit powers, and was rather relieved that, for some reason, he still had access to memories about the knowledge of those powers and how to use it and dismiss it at will. Law drew his nodachi from its sheathe automatically, and used the long blade to slash through the cell bars, dropping them to the ground and allowing Doflamingo to get out of the cell.

Doflamingo proffered his arms to show off the cuffs. "You will need to do something about these." The blond haired pirate went quiet after that, and merely watched Law, as if waiting for something to happen.

What, the dark haired man wasn't sure, but he was wasting time here. Law needed to get going, and even if he wasn't sure why Doflamingo was breathing so heavily and seemed more worn out than he ought to have been while just chained up, he acted automatically.

Law hesitated a fraction of a second, before he used the blade to remove the cuffs from Doflamingo's wrists, and then the chains that were wrapped around the man's legs. What happened next made Law briefly wonder if he had just made a mistake, because one of the blond's large hands suddenly seized him around the neck and squeezed none too gently.

"You're going to feel like a fool when you do get your memories back, because the marines won't have another chance to capture me like this again, and you yourself will never get another chance to do me any more harm then you have already managed."

Law's powers left him abruptly at the restriction of airflow, and choked on another breath as Doflamingo pinned him up against the side of the corridor of the ship, the blond haired pirate continuing on as of he weren't choking the smaller man.

"I won't say much right now, because you won't understand, but as soon as your memories return to you, you will." Doflamingo said simply. "My wounds you've given me haven't killed me yet, and you would take care to make sure you don't meddle more than you already have." Doflamingo let go of Law, and the dark haired man collapsed with a gasp.

Law sucked in a few harsh breaths, coughing as he struggled to get in air, but held still at the sensation of a foot nudging him in the side.

"When this is all over, I will find you. And whether you'll use your powers on me or not will depend on how much you want your crew and the others to live. I will have those powers of yours used on me, whether you yourself use them, or I find someone else more suitable to carry things out for me. Perhaps someone who is less of a little shit."

Doflamingo's heavy footsteps receded along the hall following crazed laughter that ended with a few coughs of the blond's own.

Law remained where he was on the floor of the corridor, even more confused than before. What was that pirate talking about? What could Law do with his powers? The dark hared man retrieved his nodachi from where it had fallen from his grasp, and, automatically propping it up against his left shoulder, went in the direction that Doflamingo had gone. He would worry about the blond pirate's intentions later. When Law emerged onto the deck of the marine ship, he was immediately surrounded by the pirates wearing the familiar looking symbols. It was blatantly clear from their expressions and questions that all of them were concerned about Law in one way or another, and all because Doflamingo had emerged from below deck before him.

"Are you all right?"

"Doflamingo didn't do anything to you, did he? How did he get free?"

"We shouldn't have left you all alone with him."

"We're sorry."

Law didn't really hear any of them, as he was drawn to the side of the ship. Below, he could see the fight scattered about the grounds of the island, the marine base looming in the distance. Doflamingo wasn't hard to miss with the way he was using his powers to carve a bloody path in the direction of the base.

Enemies.

Destroy.

Capture.

Law heard the voice, but it was faint and barely there. It was clearly the voice from before, the one that kept confusing Law over who was friend and who was foe. But since the voice barely reached him, it was likely that there was something the voice needed to pay attention to more than him. But still, that voice, that insistent, insidious voice that worked its way into Law's mind, while barely there, continued to tell him that the pirates around him, the ones who hadn't attacked him yet, were his enemies.

Defend.

Defeat the enemies.

No.

Law tuned the voice out as much as he was able to as he turned around to face the group of pirates. No, these people were not his enemies. They were clearly his allies in some way, and the dark haired man just had to somehow remember that. Plus they had not done anything when his back had been turned, and that spoke volumes about the fact that Law could trust these people as much as he was able to at that point in time. Law stepped forward and spoke to the one that he presumed was Penguin, based off of the hat the man wore. "What's going on out there?" Law indicated the fighting behind him on the island. He knew that the marines were trying to capture the pirates, but apart from that, some things were hazy, and perhaps on purpose. The voice had seemed to quiet in his head, but in return, Law's thoughts began to be disjointed, and the dark haired man had to struggle to keep things together.

"The Straw Hats are going after their captain, Straw Hat Luffy." Penguin said after a moment.

The name Law recalled and for some reason, the thought of the cheerful straw hat wearing individual brought him feelings of annoyance. "I…recall that he was captured by the marines."

"Does that mean that you remember us?" Penguin asked, his voice reflecting hope.

Law wasn't sure, but the memory was there, just beyond his reach within his mind. Right now, it was something he couldn't confirm, but deep down, Law knew that he had to know these pirates. Something, perhaps the voice he had just been hearing, was preventing him from remembering them like he ought to have, and because of it, Law shook his head in response to Penguin's question. "No, I don't remember but…you all seem to be familiar. But I just don't know how." Law could tell that the other man was having trouble responding to that, so the dark haired man added. "But you know who I am."

"Yes, we know you." Penguin confirmed. "Because you're our captain."

"Captain…" Law repeated. That meant that he was a pirate after all, and that the marines had been lying to him. Especially that vice admiral. Although Law had known it all along, subconsciously, based off the pieces of memory he could recall then and there. All of the things that had seemed off when he had been helping the marines...all of the times he'd woken up in a cell...there was something bigger going on, and Law wanted to know what. And to figure it out, he needed to go confront the marines. "If I am your captain, then go back to the ship and make sure the marines don't take it. I…" Law looked in the direction of the base. "I have the feeling escape will need to be made in haste." The dark haired man ignored the protests that rose behind him as he turned away and raised a hand.

"Room."

Law warped himself to the island, and made short work of a few marines that converged on him, before he dropped his powers and jogged in the direction of the marine base, nodachi in hand.

He didn't think much of leaving the people that were supposedly his crew behind, but there was a lingering feeling of guilt and that meant it wasn't something he chose to do often. However, since none of them followed after him, Law supposed they still respected the orders that were given, and could only hope, when he regained his memories, that he had made the right decision to leave them behind.

Law turned his attention to the base. The dark haired man did recall, the longer he ran, that he needed to return the favor that he believed he owed Straw Hat, for whatever reason, and that was when another memory came to Law's mind unbidden.

One about Doflamingo that made Law relieved that he couldn't hold a conversation with the man before. But that memory, and another that soon followed, indicated that whoever had used their powers on him was losing their hold over him. That was when Law knew for sure that it was a Devil Fruit power that was at work, as someone, likely Doflamingo, had told him it was. And the sooner Law regained the rest of his memories, the better he would be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and make a decision of what he was going to do when this was all resolved.

Because even though Law only had bits and pieces regarding Doflamingo, the dark haired pirate knew, without a doubt, that the man would come after him once he was off this island.

-x

The inside of the marine base was a mess with the Straw Hat crew wreaking havoc in search of their captain.

"Sixteen hundred pound phoenix." Zoro called over the din, sending a flying slash through the nearest wall that halted a group of marines in their tracks. Zoro kept his stance up, jaw clenching around the hilt in his mouth when several other marines took the place of the ones he'd dealt with.

"Diable Jambe! Collier Strike!" Sanji took care of a few of them, legs burning and catching the marines unaware. The blond haired cook landed lightly on his feet next to Zoro, irritably lighting another cigarette as he surveyed the melee going on around them. "Where did they all come from?"

"Does it matter?" Zoro gritted around the hilt.

"Zoro! Sanji! Go on ahead and find Luffy!" Nami called out from where she'd just zapped several marines into submission.

"Yes Nami!" Sanji swooned and ran off, kicking a few marines aside as he ran off down the hall.

Zoro joined him after sending another flying slash at a marine sneaking up on Nami. "We'll be back with Luffy!"

"We'll hold them off." Robin called after the swordsman, arms crossed as two large hands that had been formed slapped a dozen or so marines away.

Usopp, meanwhile, was racing about, half running away from the fight and half engaging with strike of his pop greens.

Zoro lost sight of them as he and Sanji continued along in a less populated hall where the marines weren't as vigilant.

"There's no end to them." Sanji said in exasperation as he kicked one marine aside.

"What? Can't handle a few marines, shit cook?" Zoro said, crossing blades with a more adventurous marine.

"Like hell, moss head!" Sanji snapped back as he drop kicked a marine that had gotten too close.

The bickering between the two men lessened as soon as they ran into a larger room, and found their captain further ahead and up on an upper floor.

"Luffy!"

The Straw Hat captain had been kicking and demanding his hat back when he spotted his friends and perked up immediately.

"Ah! Sanji! Zoro! Hey!"

"Don't hey us, you idiot! Why did you let yourself get caught!" Sanji asked as he half turned and struck a marine to the ground with a well-placed kick.

"Eh?" Luffy puffed his cheeks up. "I didn't let them do it! That mingo jerk used his weird strings and then there were sea stone cuffs and-"

"Luffy, duck." Zoro interrupted, and ran forward with his katana poised for an attack.

Luffy kicked free a marine holding him and dropped flat to the ground regardless of face planting, and grinned up cheerfully at his exasperated crewmates when they got onto the upper floor of the base, marines scattered on the ground and groaning from their attacks.

"Oh! Where's Law?" Luffy asked as Sanji fished a key out of an unconscious marine's pocket.

"He was with his crew the last we saw him. They're trying to get him to remember them." Sanji unlocked the cuffs and tossed them aside.

"So he isn't attacking us anymore, right?" Luffy questioned with a grin, shaking out his hands.

"At the moment, no." Sanji replied.

Zoro side glanced to a darkened hall on the upper floor, and smiled in anticipation. "I think we got someone's attention."

"The vice admiral?" Luffy jumped to his feet and raced off in the direction Zoro had looked in. "Hey! Marine guy! Fight me!" A pause. "Oh! And give me my hat back! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Zoro and Sanji gave chase, not about to let their captain out of their sight again while they were on a marine base. But they needn't have worried, because after they ran in a circle of the hall, they found Luffy standing in front of a railing and staring down at something. Zoro and Sanji joined Luffy and stood to either side of him and saw what had caught their captain's attention.

Fall and some of the marines with him had cornered most of their crew against one wall, and a few of them, like Robin and Usopp, appeared to have been injured. Fall gave Luffy a familiar look of distain though he seemed unsurprised by the pirate captain's escape. "It is only matter of time before you and your crew are captured and brought to justice, Straw Hat Luffy."

"No, I think you'll find you're wrong there." Sanji relaxed his stance as he fished out a new cigarette and lit it as he indicated Luffy. "He'll prove it to you."

Zoro sheathed his blades as he addressed his captain. "Don't forget that we need to be able to get out of here. If you're going to kick his ass, just take him down and get out."

"Got it." Luffy said, not looking at either of his crewmates as his eyes were still on Fall. Without another word, the Straw Hat captain jumped down from the upper floor and made right for the marine as if he couldn't be bothered with the lower rank marines that were still milling about.

Fall gave a derisive laugh. "None of you will be going anywhere." The vice admiral had no more time to say anything because Luffy was suddenly right there before him as the pirate captain slugged Fall hard in the face with a clenched fist. There was no wondering what had Luffy up in arms in that moment with what he yelled.

"Give me back my hat!"

-x

Law had almost reached the base, when he was struck by a sudden feeling of vertigo, and stumbled to a halt before he dropped to his knees as a rush of memories flooded back to him. It was almost enough to knock him out, but Law struggled through the confusion of all the memories settling back into place, and soon one thing became blatantly apparent. While there were still some blank spaces, Law knew what had happened more or less since Fall had used his Devil Fruit powers on him.

The Heart Pirate captain remembered.

Law remembered going to Fall's base for an item that would be useful in taking down Kaido. Or rather, an item, a map, that would lead to that useful thing. He recalled being taken down by Fall's Devil Fruit powers before he or the others could find that map, and then running into Straw Hat and his crew outside of the base with his memory terribly scrambled.

Law remembered almost all of it.

Not everything, but the important pieces of the dark hared pirate's memories had returned to him for the most part, and that allowed Law to figure out exactly what he was going to do. He needed to defeat Fall. The vice admiral's Devil Fruit powers were still active, and Law needed to remember everything. But for now, it was enough to know who he was.

Law didn't dare go back to shore for his crew, because Doflamingo was still lurking around, and the former warlord did not know, for the moment, that the Heart Pirate captain's memory had almost completely returned. Law couldn't risk harm to his crew, and he didn't doubt that Doflamingo would lash out at them if he thought, for one second, that Law had gotten his memories back sooner than anticipated.

So Law looked ahead. He focused on the marine base before him, and the sound of what appeared to be a full-scale brawl inside. No doubt Luffy would be after Fall if he were free, and that was just as well.

Vice Admiral Fall was Law's objective now.

He needed to ensure that the marine was knocked out because the Heart Pirate needed all of his memories back if he was going to effectively plot a plan against Kaido, despite everything that had occurred. He and the straw hat crew had been delayed enough as it was, and time was of the essence if things were going to play out how Law hoped they would.

-x

Luffy chased Fall all over the marine base, trying his best to take the marine down and get his hat back. Even though the vice admiral didn't have the hat on hand, Luffy figured that he had it somewhere, and as soon as he kicked the man's ass, he would be able to find out where it was. Luffy used gear two to spring ahead of Fall, and swung his fist in the marine's direction. "Gum Gum Jet Pistol!" The attack sent Fall stumbling backward, so Luffy pressed on, leaping into the air and swinging his foot down. "Gum Gum Jet Stamp!"

The vice admiral barely dodged out of the way, and brandished a blade he'd pulled from his belt to ward Luffy off.

The Straw Hat Captain attacked regardless of the blade, intent on retrieving his hat.

"I plan on getting rid of every one of you pirates, in whatever way necessary." Fall taunted, as he avoided another attack and threw a punch of his own.

"Shut up and give me back my hat!" Luffy exclaimed, and he shifted the gears he was using to coat one large fist in haki. "And stop getting in the way of my adventure!" Luffy swung his fist. "Gum Gum Elephant Gun!"

"Your little journey to find One Piece? I will delay you as long as necessary to see you executed. I'll even use my powers if I have to. They worked out quite well with Trafalgar Law." The vice admiral taunted as he darted into a nearby room briefly to avoid being crushed by the giant fist.

"Leave my friends alone!" Luffy said, and swung his free hand as soon as Fall came back out of the room. The Straw Hat captain managed to send the vice admiral flying with another punch and went after him as soon as he gained his footing again. "You shouldn't make people forget their friends!" Luffy said as he punched the wall, as Fall had moved hastily out of reach once he'd landed from Luffy's initial strike.

The look of distain crossing the vice admiral's features turned into a triumphant one upon realizing that Luffy was in close quarters with him now. He raised his fists and parried Luffy's punches with some of his own, all the while his smile of triumph was growing in intensity like he was pleased about something.

"Shall I make you forget?" Fall questioned in a flat tone.

Luffy continued his assault with a yell of 'Gum Gum Jet Gatling' before he flung himself in Fall's direction after the vice admiral had avoided the attack. "Go ahead! But you won't make me forget who my friends are!"

"Is that so?" Fall's features morphed into a rare smile as he went into a fighting stance and blocked a few punches Luffy sent his way. "That sounds like a challenge to me. One I will take you up on, pirate."

Luffy hurled close without words, intent on defeating the marine in front of him and leaving the base with his friends, his straw hat in tow. Luffy clipped one of Fall's shoulders, and as he went by, a hand grabbed him and sent him slamming into the ground.

"Dammit." Luffy was unharmed from the sudden meeting with the ground, but it was an awkward angle that didn't precisely allow him a good footing to attack Fall from. So Luffy twisted his body to one side and lashed out with a foot, only to have Fall grasp the limb to prevent the strike. The next thing Luffy knew, Fall had a hand on his head, and the marine spoke aloud with an ominous announcement.

"Let us see how your friends fare when Straw Hat Luffy doesn't remember who they are."

Luffy twisted to the other side to try and get the angle right, but he missed the marine by a hair as Fall spoke again. And when he did, Luffy experienced exactly what Law and Doflamingo had via the vice admiral's Devil Fruit powers.

"Nix Memoria."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did some more cutting of the outline again (cleaning it up, mostly), so I can say for certain that there is going to be one more chapter after this one (for a total of 12 chapters), and then this particular story will be over with.
> 
> However, I did already go ahead and make an outline for a sequel to this, and a darker toned one, at that, due to the item (map) that Law and the Straw Hats were after in the first chapter of this fic (aka the sequel will be rated M for violence and physical trauma). I'm planning on posting the first chapter for it soon after I finish this fanfic, because I like to have stories like this one around to work on to balance out all the fics I have with pairings in them, because I know some people prefer generic stories without pairings in them.


	12. Chapter 12

It was as if a fog had been lifted from Law's mind.

The voice, which had been buzzing in the back of his mind, was suddenly gone. The Heart Pirate captain came to a halt as his remaining missing memories returned, and his thoughts came back into sharp focus. Law wondered, as he resumed jogging, if perhaps Luffy had knocked the vice admiral unconscious. If that was the case, then they all needed to get out of there before Doflamingo descended upon them all and decided that mass murder was the order of the day. Law moved a little more quickly, his teeth gashing in ire. He couldn't believe what a monster Doflamingo was, still alive after he'd used his powers to destroy the older man's organs.

Tenacious bastard.

Law certainly had no desire to resume their conversation, because it was likely to be very painful and unpleasant talk for the Heart Pirate. And knowing what he did of the blond, Law wouldn't put it past Doflamingo to keep him alive for some nefarious purpose. And if there was one thing that Law didn't want to be, it was bait for Kaido, which could potentially happen should the blond haired former warlord be able to get his hands on him. The Heart Pirate would not consent to being thrown to the wolves, or in this case, an angry Emperor.

No, that was what Doflamingo was for.

Law gripped his nodachi. If only he and Straw Hat's crew had been able to retrieve that item…then Kaido might not have been such horror to deal with, after completing the next objective after securing the item. The dark haired pirate entered the base and passed by wounded and unconscious marines. Law paid them no heed; they weren't a danger to him right now. Law didn't see any of Straw Hat's crew, and wondered if perhaps they had already vacated the marine base. But that seemed odd, as he hadn't see anyone-

The Heart Pirate Captain stopped just inside what appeared to be a large meeting hall, as he saw an unfortunately very conscious Fall, and standing next to him…

Law stared, hard, before he grit his teeth, not liking the sight one bit.

Damn.

"Straw Hat-ya." The name was said with a heavy sigh of irritation. Of course. The reason Law had regained his memories was because Fall had decided to change tactics, and used his powers on Luffy. That was why the dark haired Heart Pirate had regained his memories so suddenly. The vice admiral could only focus his powers effectively on one person, it seemed.

"I didn't think you would rely on your powers so much." Law commented lightly of Fall, though he kept his eyes on Luffy as he tried to come up with a plan on the spot. He hadn't anticipated Luffy falling victim to a devil fruit user, but then again, he shouldn't have been surprised at all that it had happened. If it had worked on Doflamingo and Law himself, it wasn't that much of a stretch that Fall could effectively use his powers on Luffy as well, as simple-minded as the Straw Hat captain could be.

"I will do whatever is necessary." Fall intoned, wearing the same look of distain on his features once more. "And what better way to deal with pirates then to have their own kind attack them?" The vice admiral offered a hint of a smile. "Trafalgar Law. You and Straw Hat Luffy will not leave this island." Fall muttered something to Luffy, who turned his attention to Law, looking upset about something, as if the Heart Pirate had done something unspeakable.

Law wrapped his hand around Kikoku's hilt, his entire body tensing as he readied for what appeared to be an unavoidable fight. It seemed like he was going to have to, at the very least, parry Straw Hat's attacks and try to send him off in another direction and go after Fall. His fellow captain made the idea more difficult than originally planned. Despite said plan being sudden and not very well put together. It consisted of the aforementioned parrying or avoiding Luffy and then warping to Fall to try to deal with the vice admiral before Straw Hat figured out what had happened.

"Give me back my hat!" Luffy jumped from the upper balcony of the meeting hall and careened toward Law.

Law back stepped out of the way as the other captain's fist connected with the ground, and sighed in frustration.

It just figured that Luffy would be able to be manipulated into thinking that he had his hat. Utterly ridiculous but simple enough that it would get the other captain going without much question of why he was attacking who he was.

Fall's Devil Fruit was troublesome, but the Heart pirate figured that there had to be some way to distract Luffy, as Law himself had been able to be non-combative around Luffy and his crew had found him without his memory.

The only question Law had now, as he brought his blade up defensively, was how to get through to Luffy and in what manner would be best. There had to be a way to make him realize what he was doing, and that if Luffy knew what he was doing, he wouldn't be doing it. Confusing, but the Heart Pirate figured that he could find something, however idiotic it might have to be to counter the hat issue.

"Gum Gum Pistol!"

Law was sent back a few paces from a punch he'd partially blocked, and the Heart Pirate grit his teeth as he turned on his heel and narrowly avoided a punch Luffy threw over his shoulder in retaliation.

It just figured that Luffy's one track mind would become a bit of a difficulty.

Now all Law had to do was avoid being pounded into an unconscious heap, and take out Fall while he was at it. Not as simple as it sounded, now that Law was on the receiving end of Luffy's attacks. Straw Hat not giving him an inch, and that was not going to make things easier at all. No, it made it much harder and as worm out as Law already was from before, it didn't help matters in the least bit. A memory to lose was the least of Law's worries at present, as he grimly halted another punch, and then a kick, which sent the Heart Pirate stumbling and hitting his back hard against the nearest wall. A quick duck down to the ground meant Law avoided being punched in the face, and the Heart Pirate had time, however briefly, to linger on the realization that all of this mess was technically his fault.

Because if Law had not insisted very adamantly on acquiring a certain item that was at the naval base where Fall was stationed, none of this would be happening. The Heart Pirate's golden eyes sought out Fall, who was still up on the second floor, and almost casually observing him. Law gripped Kikoku's hilt and rolled to one side as Luffy's foot slammed into the ground, kicking up dust and debris of the floor. Law didn't particularly care for how the vice admiral seemed content to watch Straw Hat attempting to pummel him into an unconscious heap.

"It really is too bad that my powers limit me to only one person at a time." Fall prowled back and forth on the balcony of the upper floor. "But it will all work out in the end. You're already tired out from everything from before, so it is only a matter of time until you can no longer resist arrest, Trafalgar Law."

Law ignored Fall's taunts for the time being in order to focus on his fellow captain before him who was attacking him and demanding his hat from him. Which the dark haired captain hadn't taken, obviously, but there wasn't telling the other pirate any of that when he wouldn't believe him. Law bit back a curse and blocked another punch, and grit out at the Straw Hat. "I thought that you said you weren't going to let someone like him make you hurt your friends." Law brought Kikoku up to block a powerful kick from Luffy and sent him careening off in another direction, mind racing in order to try and figure out how best to get to-

Law nearly groaned over the obvious.

His powers.

Law could use his own Devil Fruit powers to get to Fall.

"Room." Law's eyes darted again to the upper floor, though this time his focus was for something to swap places with, and not on Fall. In that one moment, the Heart Pirate let his guard drop as he quickly scanned everything, and it allowed Luffy to side swipe him with a punch, sending him into the debris covered ground. Law's concentration nearly shattered from the strike and subsequent landing, but he righted himself with a grimace and stood up, determined to not remain on the ground. If he lay on the ground for too long, he would be giving in to the inevitable, and that was unacceptable.

"You're underestimating Straw Hat-ya." The Heart Pirate kept the room intact and swapped places with some debris that had clearly come from Fall and Straw Hat's earlier fight, and just so happened to be conveniently located not a pace from where the marine happened to now be standing. Law offered a smirk at Fall as he appeared and landed lightly on the ground, his nodachi poised and ready to be used.

"I have taken things into account." The vice admiral's tone turned slightly smug, "And I believe it is you who are underestimating him."

Luffy came flying up from the lower ground, arm held back for a punch, his sight firmly locked on the Heart Pirate captain before him.

Law just smirked in return and twisted his fingers. Immediately he stood where Fall had been and the vice admiral had no time to move out of the way as Luffy punched him and sent him back to crash into the debris.

"Oops." Was all Luffy said of striking the wrong person as he immediately turned on the spot and struck a fighting stance when he spotted Law.

Law thought quickly as Luffy advanced on him, and spoke hastily, feeling a little bit foolish for the idiocy about to come out of his own mouth. "The vice admiral is lying to you. There's no way you're getting any free food. Or your hat. I do not have it." If this didn't work, Law would think to throw himself into the sea despite the drowning aspect because he was too embarrassed for words that he had to be doing this at all. It was something one of Straw Hat's friends should be doing, trying to get Luffy to stop being an idiot, and that thought, Law decided, was something he would be staying away from. It said too many things about him right now, and none of them he wanted to admit to, even at knife or gunpoint.

"You don't have my hat?" Luffy's demeanor changed into one of confusion, which rendered void some of Law's concerns about having said something so ridiculous in the middle of a fight.

"No, I don't." Law said, mind still racing. Was it really this simple to get around Fall's Devil Fruit powers? Or was Luffy just a simple minded idiot who could be easily swayed?

"No meat?" Luffy added, sounding concerned. It sounded like it was a fate worse than death for there to be nothing to eat.

"No meat." Law confirmed, holding back a smile at the absurdity of it all. "That marine just wanted you to beat up your friends so he can arrest us all."

Luffy seemed to ponder what Law had said, but not for a very long time, as an indignant look came over Straw Hat's face and he about faced and ran full speed in Fall's direction. "You jerk! You lied about the free food! And all the meat I can eat!" Luffy's fist clenched as he took a swing at the vice admiral. "And where is my hat? Give it back!"

Law couldn't believe that food was part of what Fall had been using of Luffy's memories to try and manipulate him. Then again, Law supposed there wasn't much to work with in Straw Hat's mind to begin with, apart from his hat, his friends and the desire to be King of the Pirates.

"That won't work." Fall said tonelessly, as he merely held a hand in Luffy's direction and narrowed his eyes. "In such close quarters, I have the advantage when it comes to Devil Fruit powers."

It seemed that Law had miscalculated; it appeared as though Fall didn't need to touch someone to use his powers when they already were under his sway. Though the Heart Pirate vaguely recalled Fall doing something similar with Doflamingo in the marine ship. So much for Luffy turning on Fall then and there, as Luffy went straight back into attack mode.

Time to come up with another plan on the fly, and avoid being beaten down.

And while he was at it, Law also had to figure out how to get clear of the base without Doflamingo realizing the game was up and deciding it was a brilliant idea to use a Birdcage to slaughter everyone. Law shuddered at the thought; he remembered what had happened on Dressrosa, and no longer needed to ask Straw Hat and his crewmates why he had a scar around his upper right arm. The sick bastard would likely be more than happy to do a repeat, and Law wouldn't be able to reattach it on his own. Law didn't want to be around Doflamingo until he had more time to recover his already rather depleted stamina. It would be best to avoid Doflamingo altogether if at all possible.

"Gum Gum Stamp!"

Law's powers briefly flared as the Heart Pirate swapped positions to avoid the kick, and frowned as he landed heavily, his thoughts spiraling. Law wasn't entirely sure what else he could do at this point, though one thing came to mind. The Heart Pirate thought it a bit foolish on his part, more so than suggesting there was no food to Luffy, but Law sheathed his nodachi and let it fall from his grasp. There was only one thing that Law could think of that might get through to Luffy, and it was taking a beating. Fall probably thought he would fight back, and Law hoped that if he didn't, Luffy might be inclined to wonder why. It was a gamble, but one Law was willing to make if it got Straw Hat to snap out of it in order for them to defeat Fall.

The first punch hurt as Law was slugged directly in his abdomen. The Heart Pirate doubled over, coughing harshly from the punishing strike, and had no time to regain his breath as a second punch clipped his shoulder, which threw Law off balance. The next punch glanced across Law's cheek, sending the Heart Pirate backward into the nearest wall. Coughing harshly from the succession of strikes, Law collapsed to the ground, unable to keep himself upright. Law let his head rest on the ground, eyes closed as he breathed in harshly and raggedly. Law hated this spur of the moment decision, but he had a feeling, based off how the other captain worked, it would be easier to get through to Straw Hat this way. And Law was right, because Luffy seemed to be confused that the Heart Pirate was not getting up to continue the duel, and said as much.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" Luffy's frowned, clearly puzzled. "What are you? Stupid? Why are you doing that?"

Law really hated that he was going to say this aloud, and dreaded the thought of what Luffy would do about it should he remember he had said it. But for now, Law had an opening, and he would take it. Law took a shuddering breath after the brief pummeling he'd taken, and, lifting his head so that he could make eye contact with Straw Hat, managed to speak in halting tones. "I'm not fighting with you…because you are my friend."

"Friends?" That made Luffy abandon all thoughts of continuing the assault as he instead assessed the dark haired pirate on the ground with a quizzical look. "Wait. You're my friend? Really?"

"So it would seem." Law admitted in reply, closing his eyes. If this didn't work, he'd rather pretend he was unconscious. Well, when it came down to it, he'd rather be unconscious if it did work, too. That way the Heart Pirate could delay discussing the fact that he did, in fact, remember what had happened when Fall had scrambled his memories.

"Luffy! What are you doing?"

Law opened his eyes, because really, he had to, as Straw Hat's navigator sounded beyond exasperated with her captain's antics. A brief glance confirmed the orange haired woman's presence, as well as a few others, on the lower floor.

Straw Hat's crew hadn't left after all, it seemed.

Law knew it was stupid of him to think they would. Where their captain went, Luffy's crew would follow, no matter what. And it seemed that those of Straw Hat's crew that were present were keen on leaving the island before any admirals decided to grace it with their presence, and make that leaving harder. By now, Law had enough in him to lever himself up with a forearm, and as he set about trying to get into a seated position, Luffy's crew started calling out encouragements to their captain, making it clear that they wouldn't interfere in the fight.

"Yeah! Kick his ass, Luffy!" Usopp called out from behind Zoro. "We need to get out of here!"

"Don't let that bastard have his way." Sanji added.

"You don't take orders from a marine now, do you Luffy?" Zoro asked, busily draining a bottle of sake he'd found. He had a katana in his free hand, presumably to take care of any marines that were still left in the base that might choose to attack him or his crewmates in that battle scared meeting hall of the marine base.

"I need to get my treasure on board the ship." Nami waved at the three bulging bags she'd gathered together.

Law wasn't sure when Straw Hat's navigator had had the time to go wrangle that all up. The woman's obsession with money was rather alarming, and to raid a naval base for beli and treasure in the midst of the fight didn't seem very smart or safe. Not that any of Straw Hat's crew seemed to be entirely sane, just like their captain.

No wonder they worked together so well.

Law found himself slightly disturbed that Luffy counted him as a friend like the rest of his crew. The Heart Pirate didn't want to think about what that said about him that Luffy had decided to adopt him as a friend and not just an ally. The Heart Pirate captain managed to get into a seated position, half tuning out Straw Hat's crew as they continued to chatter, heedless of the vice admiral in the background.

"Is Law all right?" Chopper piped up, peeking from behind the door to the room the wrong way, "I found medical supplies for the ship!"

"Do you need our help?" Robin questioned, even though the black haired woman appeared to think everything was under control, despite the falling apart state around her and everyone else present.

Law glanced Straw Hat's way, and saw that somehow, infuriatingly enough, Luffy had seemed to come to his senses and looked displeased as he obviously remembered what he couldn't moments before. Law chalked up the change to Fall's powers failing because of overuse. And then the dark haired pirate didn't care why the vice admiral's Devil Fruit powers seemed to have shorted out, because that was the precise moment that Straw Hat caught sight of Law, seated on the ground, and trying very hard not to flinch at tender areas of his body from where he'd been struck.

"Are you okay?" Luffy questioned, completely ignoring Fall and the vice admiral's displeasure with both pirate captains seemingly dismissing him.

"I will be fine. I just need some rest." Law admitted, and felt the beginnings of worry when Luffy made a face, and sealed the Heart Pirate's fate regarding the whole missing memories thing and the fact that, when they weren't in danger, there would be discussion about what had happened while under Fall's Devil Fruit powers.

"I didn't mean to hit you like that. I couldn't help it. I thought you took my hat and hurt some of my crew." Luffy turned his attention to Fall, who appeared taken aback at how suddenly Luffy had regained his memories, along with being so casually dismissed to check on a fellow captain's well-being. Luffy's expression became a serious one. "Law, I'm gonna kick his ass and then we'll leave."

Law heard the use of his name but chose to, for now, not call Luffy out on knowing his name and instead choosing to use some garbled version in place of it. Law lifted a hand and set his jaw as the motion sent a brief spasm through his arm, before the Heart Pirate used his powers to get to the lower level of the meeting hall. As he swapped places with a bench on the ground, Law caught sight of Luffy sending attack after attack at Fall, who'd hastily went on guard in response. Straw Hat was clearly unhappy he'd been made to attack one of his friends, and that he'd been made to forget who everyone was in the first place and do what someone else told him to do.

"What happened to you?" Sanji questioned, even as he offered a hand, his attention half on the fight going on above them, and half on Robin and Nami, clearly making sure they were not in harm's way. How the blond haired cook knew where to stick his hand out, Law didn't know. Unless the man was using observation haki in some way.

Law considered the hand that was extended out to him, before his ribs and the rest of the ache his body gave off forced him to accept the help. It wasn't like he was making any progress on his own in getting to his feet. The Heart Pirate frowned slightly as he thought briefly on the cook's words.

"I would think that vice admiral using his powers on your captain would answer that question." Law said dryly as he gripped the hand and Sanji helped him to his feet.

"Got a few hits in, from the looks of it." Sanji replied, and let go of Law to reach out to snag Usopp's arm in order to tug him backward and out of the way of a falling hunk of wall that had broken free from the fight on the second level. Putting aside his crewmate's freak out over the sudden debris that was falling, Sanji glanced back in the direction that led to the entrance of the naval base. Letting out a trail of smoke from his cigarette, Sanji lowered his voice and spoke grimly. "I saw Doflamingo out there. Why didn't he attack you?"

"I didn't remember him at the time, so Joker chose not to do anything about it until I did." Law had almost forgotten about the older blond, what with Luffy being easy prey to metal manipulation and all.

"And what will he do if he realizes you remember?" Sanji took his attention off both the fight and his crewmates to observe Law carefully. "If he comes after you, he'll come after all of us, won't he?"

"He does have reason to hold a grudge against myself and Straw Hat-ya." Law replied evenly. "If not on this island, he will find another way to come after us, if the marines can't recapture him."

Sanji dropped his cigarette and crushed it underfoot absently as he shook his head. "I figured that was the case. I'm going to go on ahead. Luffy will finish up with things here. He won't be thinking about Doflamingo when we leave this place."

Law watched as Sanji ran in the direction of the naval base entrance and wondered what the blond haired cook was up to. Law might have even remained there with some of Straw Hat's crew until he was urged to head out of the base a minute later when the fight between Fall and Luffy reached its peak. Law allowed one of the Straw Hat's crew mates to help him along, because it hurt to move, so the support proved useful in that Law didn't immediately fall over and onto the ground on his face. And honestly, the Heart Pirate couldn't shake the feeling that he was going to be unable to avoid having a certain conversation with Luffy in the near future.

Because there was no way in hell that Luffy would forget anyone calling him a friend.

Law knew he couldn't deny having said it, because since the Heart Pirate remembered what he had done with his memory wiped clean, Luffy would too. In the meantime, before that embarrassing conversation was to be had, Law found it very satisfying to hear a crunch of bones accompanied by Luffy's voice. Law was too exhausted and rather sore from Luffy punching him to deal with the vice admiral himself, so having Luffy defeat Fall by proxy would have to do.

"Gum Gum Jet Gatling!"

The sight of an unconscious Fall flying across the room to collapse in an unconscious heap was rather satisfying, even if Law was not able to get in a hit or two.

Luffy joined his crewmates and Law, seemingly disinterested in Fall now that the marine was unconscious.

The Heart Pirate caught sight of something and stooped briefly to pick it up as he called out. "Straw Hat-ya!" Law held out a certain straw hat.

"Ah, my hat! You found it!" Luffy jammed it on his head with a grin. "Thanks!"

Law said nothing; he was still trying to figure out how to get around the whole friend topic. The conclusion Law came to was that he couldn't avoid it, and would just have to wait for it to happen, and deal with it however he could, short of murdering the sure to be cheerful Straw Hat captain. Law, once they'd left the base and gotten close to shore, stopped short of joining the Straw Hats on the Thousand Sunny when he realized that his ship was gone.

Doflamingo…

Doflamingo hadn't figured it out, had he?

"Come on! Let's go!" Luffy called.

"Your crew already went on ahead. We thought it would be good for someone to scout ahead." Robin added from the railing.

"I made sure that Doflamingo wasn't around and talked to one of your crewmates to explain things." Sanji added, even though he was beaming at Robin and looked to be headed straight into fawning over Nami as well. The orange haired navigator settled nearby to start to sort through the treasure and beli she'd absconded with from the base.

"Sanji, do you think we could have something to drink?" The navigator was thumbing through a sizable stack of beli, "All that running's made me thirsty." Nami didn't even look up to see Sanji all but racing toward the kitchen with a 'right away, Nami dear~' as a reply.

Law went onto Straw Hat crew's ship with a glum expression. He'd been hoping to be back with his crew instead, but it seemed like today just wasn't going to be his day in terms of things going his way. At the very least, the blond haired cook made enough drinks for everyone, and despite the Heart Pirate captain's attempts to hide it, Sanji and everyone else caught the fact that Law liked the drink very much.

And, grudgingly, the overall good mood of the crew around him, reluctant though Law was to join in any small festivities. Allowing Chopper to help with some post-battle treatment was much more what Law had in mind. The Heart Pirate captain didn't want to find out he had broken ribs and do something stupid.

Unfortunately, the blond haired cook was a devious bastard, because he' slipped something into Law's drink that, while it made him relax and numbed the pain he was feeling, it also made Law unwillingly, and rather quietly, sing along with Luffy and Usopp when Brook decided it was time to play some songs.

Law flipped Sanji off, just to show how much he wasn't amused at being medically drugged via Chopper and a drink, during the middle of Brook playing 'Bink's Brew' on the violin. Much to the Heart Pirate's displeasure, the cook didn't see offended in the least bit.

This singing business was something Law was still planning on hiding forever from his crew out of the sheer embarrassment of allowing it to happen in the first place. But maybe, just maybe, this one time Law would let slip the fact that he almost seemed to be enjoying himself, memory completely intact.

-x

Vice admiral Fall woke abruptly within some debris he'd been thrown into. Fall scowled and clenched a fist against the ground. He would have to be quick about going after Straw Hat Luffy and Trafalgar Law, before they got too far away and got around to doing anything that would throw the world into more disarray.

An ominous laugh accompanied by a wheeze sounded in the destroyed base distracted the marine.

"It seems as if you underestimated those pirates."

"Doflamingo…" Fall couldn't move, and he attributed it to the grinning blond approaching him. "Headquarters will send more marines to deal with all of you scum."

"They will, won't they?" Doflamingo wheezed his amusement. "But I don't care. I'm no longer a warlord, so I will do as I see fit." Doflamingo flexed his fingers, string tightening around Fall's limbs. "Even now Kaido and the other emperors are on the move, and something is going to happen when all of those powers, the marines, the remaining warlords, the emperors, and the likes of Straw Hat Luffy and his fellow captains of the worst generation, collide." Doflamingo laughed, breaking off to briefly cough before he grinned crazily. "It will be so fascinating, but you won't be around for it."

Fall might have responded, had Doflamingo not jerked a finger and cut those words off.

Literally.

"I don't care much for those who look down on me." Doflamingo added lightly, as his hand balled into a fist and his grin split wickedly,"And I am in a hurry. I can't let Law think that he can leave so easily after what he and Straw Hat Luffy have done."

-x

Several days later…

-x

"Listen to this." Nami said suddenly, from where she was reclining on a chair and reading the newspaper. Those of her crewmates who were nearest looked up from whatever they were doing. "It says here that Vice Admiral Fall is dead. They won't go into details about how he died but there's talk that Doflamingo was involved."

"It wouldn't be a stretch, as he was on the island at the time." Robin said, pausing in watering some plants.

"You don't think he'll come after us, do you?" Usopp asked nervously.

"Well, not at the moment. The sky is clear." Nami peered through her sunglasses, ignoring Usopp's muttering of having a I-can't-deal-with-former-warlords disease. "Though with the way the breeze is, and the humidity, we could be seeing rain before the day is out. But it should be plenty of time to put more distance between us and Doflamingo."

Law listened from nearby as he leaned against a railing. He was still rather rankled about all the Straw Hat crew had gotten him to do while he'd lost his memory. He pretended the post celebratory singing fest and small feast upon leaving the island several days ago had never happened. It was unpleasant and suffice to say, embarrassing enough, to consider the rest of what had happened when he'd not had his memory from before. Luffy, of course, was still animatedly talking about the experience, and not allowing the Heart Pirate to leave those still fresh memories behind just yet because of it.

"It was so weird, Chopper!" Luffy was saying. "I can remember doing all this stuff that I didn't want to do, but I had to do it anyway 'cause I couldn't remember I didn't want to do it at the time. It was so bizarre."

Law more or less turned out the chatter, even if he didn't like the sound of Doflamingo still alive and kicking and looming somewhere on another island, biding his time. The dark thoughts didn't linger for long, because Law saw something glint in Luffy's hand as the other captain's arms gestured wildly as he told his tale to Chopper, and as soon as Law realized what it was, he let out an indignant sound.

No, it couldn't be…but if it was, then that meant that...that...

Law pushed away from the railing and stalked toward Luffy, and spoke aloud in an irritated, disbelieving tone. "Straw Hat-ya. Is that the item we meant to steal all this time from that vice admiral's base?"

"Eh?" Luffy blinked at Law, and then looked down at the small cylindrical tube he was holding. "Oh, I saw it and I grabbed it."

The rest of Luffy's crew converged on them, happy yet exasperated that their captain hadn't said anything about it before.

"What?" Luffy made a face when too many of his crewmates were speaking at once. "I didn't think it was important." Luffy slapped Law's shoulder with his free hand. "Law didn't remember us, so it was more important that we helped him remember things."

"You..." Law began, not quite able to put into words how obnoxious it was to have Luffy be so cavalier about things. Or that yes, Luffy did know what his name was, and just chose to not always call him it. The Heart Pirate supposed he didn't call the other captain by his name either, and left it at that.

Luffy just grinned cheerfully and cut in before the other captain could form a complete sentence, "Hey, Law?"

"What?" Law asked crossly. He wasn't going to forget this.

"You said before, when that marine made me fight you, that you wouldn't fight back because you were my friend?"

Law looked away immediately. "I don't know what you are talking about." The Heart Pirate walked a short distance away along the deck as Luffy doggedly followed after him.

"You said it. I heard you say it." Luffy insisted, not about to let the matter slide as the other pirate seemed inclined to do. "You can't have forgotten it. I remember it, so you should too."

Law was in denial of the fact, even as the others in Luffy's crew laughed good naturedly about it and how Law had nothing to gain by continuing to deny the fact.

Luffy grinned some more. "You admitted it. I know you did."

Law leaned against the railing of the ship, his eyes on the sea as he kept an eye out for his crew. Maybe they would come save him so he wouldn't have to give an answer to the Straw Hat captain who wouldn't leave him alone.

"Come on." Luffy leaned against the railing as well as he propped his head up on his arms and tilted it to the side to look at Law, persistent. "Is it really such a bad thing that we're friends?"

"I suppose not." Law stated after a brief pause, wanting nothing more than to be left alone to brood on his own about the sorry state he had gotten himself in to by offering to make an alliance.

"See?" Luffy's grin was cheerful once more. "It's all right then, isn't it?"

Law kept his eyes on the churning waves, but he supposed that the other captain was right. If nothing else, it was useful to have powerful ally. The Heart Pirate frowned as the thought passed, before what he'd just casually agreed with caught up to him. Law whirled around and exclaimed in an almost distraught way, as if he had somehow been tricked.

"Hey! Straw Hat-ya! I never said that I wanted to be your friend!"

Luffy's laugh was all the answer Trafalgar Law needed to know that there was no way to end his alliance or friendship, in the Straw Hat captain's mind, any time soon.

Luffy handed the item in his hand over to the dark haired Heart Pirate before he ran over to join his crew to chatter something to them excitedly.

Law shook his head minutely as he broke the seal on the capsule and drew out a tiny key that had been wrapped up tightly within a rolled up scroll, and smirked. It seemed like things had worked out after all, despite the delays that had come about because of it. Staring back out to sea, Law wondered if he even cared at this point in time if the alliance would ever end. Because right now, in his hands, was the location of the one thing that he felt would be best to deal with Kaido should he come upon them. Along with a key, he now would be able to get to it. Law had some things to discuss with the Straw Hat crew, and that included arranging a side trip to a certain island that would be key in order to go onto the next step of his plan, even if it what was on the island was something that would be useful to only Law himself.

Things were going well for once.

The fact that everything was actually going according to plan now should have keyed Law into the idea that that wouldn't be the case for long. Especially with Luffy and his crew around. Though one thing that was about to happen wasn't because of their inability to keep to a plan. No, it was just a reminder to all of them about just how unstable and violent the New World was, as well as how the Emperors they would eventually face were on a completely different level than a Warlord of the Sea.

An unexpected reunion in the very near future would drive home that fact. After all, none of the pirates on the Thousand Sunny would have anticipated coming across a rather battered and unresponsive Eustass Kid of all things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's really nice to be able to finally complete another story! Apart from the whole amnesia thing cropping up a lot, I think the fic turned out pretty well over all, and some of the loose ends were tied up (I think).
> 
> And of course, based off the end of this fic, I like to torment myself with starting new stories. Guess whose turn it is to be tormented now (I wanted to do another fic where Luffy, Law and Kid all ran into one another, like in On a Whim). In fact, the whole plot of the sequel to this fic was going to be in OaW, but went too dark for what I intended in that fic (it was inspired by one of the more recent chapters of the One Piece manga). Let's just say Kid is going to be a mess to start off with and leave it at that until I get around to posting it (also, it will likely be shorter than this fic, or about the same, for length of story, at the moment).

**Author's Note:**

> What I put for explanation on ffn for this fic:
> 
> I've noticed that this fic is going to be kind of a culmination of different things that I've read/watched (I guess that could be said for all stories in general). This particular fic is basically practicing with plot structure more than anything. I also wanted to try something different (?). This is going to lean toward AU with the plot, and the IC/OOC will be mixed up depending on the situations that the characters come across.
> 
> I also figured that if there was a Devil Fruit that could make people forget about others by turning them into something (Sugar's Hobby Hobby fruit) or Jango's hypnosis (being able to make people do things or believe they're someone else) why not someone with a Devil Fruit power who can interfere directly with one individual's memories (I don't think there's one like that?). Needed some way to do memory loss/amnesia/confusion without it being an injury, so I think it works out? Even if it's a totally cheating power. I was using the dictionary and basically decided that Nix memoria would literally mean 'no memory', based on some of the definitions I found, as that would fit with the overall plot. Though whether that's what it means as it looks, I'm not sure. Not that it matters since the OC won't show up that often. Not until he needs to later on.


End file.
